I dunno, maybe I’m weird, but I find the System Browser a fantastic way to explore the class library. If you find a class or method that isn’t well documented, write a comment and send a change request. Stef told me this ages ago. I might add, if you find a bug you should write a test that exercises the bug and submit it on fogbugz (the bug tracking system).
I will reference of response of mine to a similar opinion made by Richard: https://medium.com/@vitormcruz/i-disagree-it-is-much-harder-to-find-anything-in-the-environment-c6bdd44f6eea My 2 cents. On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 11:59 PM, john pfersich <jpfers...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Oct 10, 2017, at 09:58, horrido <horrido.hobb...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Interestingly, I'm getting a fair amount of pushback on this. > Personally, I > > think it would be very helpful to have a live (updatable, so as to keep > it > > current) reference page for the class library, something that developers > can > > easily look up what they need. After all, most of the power of Pharo > comes > > from the class library and we need to make it as accessible as possible > to > > less experienced Pharoers (i.e., beginners). > > > > Exploring the class library through the System Browser is very > inefficient. > > This is further exacerbated by the fact that many classes and methods are > > simply not well-documented (containing a cursory remark which is just > barely > > useful). > > > I dunno, maybe I’m weird, but I find the System Browser a fantastic way to > explore the class library. If you find a class or method that isn’t well > documented, write a comment and send a change request. Stef told me this > ages ago. I might add, if you find a bug you should write a test that > exercises the bug and submit it on fogbugz (the bug tracking system). > > > I realize that creating a live reference page is not easy to do. In fact, > > it's a lot of work. But the absence of such a page is a real obstacle to > > Pharo acceptance. > > > > > > > > horrido wrote > >> Thanks. I gave your answer verbatim. I also added the following > paragraph: > >> > >> The problem I find with today’s developers is that they are rather > >> closed-minded. They are rigid and inflexible, and not willing to adapt > to > >> new and different ways of doing things. In my generation (circa > >> 1980–1990), > >> people didn’t have a problem with trying different technologies. That’s > >> why > >> I had no issue with learning Smalltalk 10 years ago, after I had retired > >> from a 20-year-long career in C systems programming and FORTRAN > scientific > >> programming. > >> > >> > >> > >> Sven Van Caekenberghe-2 wrote > >>>> On 6 Oct 2017, at 14:54, horrido < > >> > >>> horrido.hobbies@ > >> > >>> > wrote: > >>>> > >>>> I received this comment from someone who complained: > >>>> > >>>> *What about the lack of documentation? From time to time I’ve checked > >>>> some > >>>> SmallTalk implementations like Squeak, GNU-Smalltalk and now Pharo. Of > >>>> these, only GNU-SmallTalk appears to have a free, official programming > >>>> guide > >>>> and core library reference that any serious programmer expects from a > >>>> language. > >>>> > >>>> https://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/html_node/* > >>>> > >>>> I pointed to Pharo's documentation but then he came back with: > >>>> > >>>> *Then show me a link of the free, maintained reference documentation > for > >>>> the > >>>> classes that form “the core library”, like this one for Python > >>>> (https://docs.python.org/3/library/index.html)* > >>>> > >>>> It's true, most Smalltalks do not have a core library reference, not > >>>> even > >>>> VisualWorks! So what is the proper response to this complaint? > >>> > >>> The first answer is that Pharo/Smalltalk is unique in that a running > >>> system/IDE contains _all_ source code, _all_ documentation (class, > >>> method, > >>> help, tutorial), _all_ unit tests and _all_ runnable examples in a very > >>> easy, accessible way. It takes some getting used to, but this is > actually > >>> better and much more powerful than any alternative. > >>> > >>> The second answer is that there are lots of books and articles that > take > >>> the classic/structured book/paper approach. There is > >>> http://books.pharo.org, http://themoosebook.org, > >>> http://book.seaside.st/book, http://medium.com/concerning-pharo and > many > >>> more. > >>> > >>>> Thanks. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > >>>> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > > > >
