As Matthew B wrote, but in general, I think you have hit the nail on the head — if you come from/are used to a world where the IDE governs your thinking.
With Racket we try a different approach; we want the language to govern your thinking and we want the language to allow you to think directly in terms of problem issues/aspects/concepts. It also accommodates almost every style, including top-down. [*] So, let me recommend something in addition to Matthew’s suggestions. Write extremely small modules. I try to write modules that fit on one or two or at most three screens of code. I write functions/methods that are a dozen lines long. I understand that this doesn’t always work extremely well but in principle, Racket’s expressive power allows you to do so, especially for beginners. — Matthias [*] Remember that Pascal morphed in Modula, Oberon, and Modula 2 — all of which introduce a form of module because people learned that this was the best way to break up programs. > On Nov 26, 2016, at 10:54 AM, SR <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > I've never been a great programmer although I've done a fair amount of > programming back in the days of C, Pascal, etc. I think racket is the right > language for me based on expressive power, etc. but I confess it currently > seems like about the worst language for me in terms of "can't see the forest > for the trees". I am hoping someone out there can recommend a strong editor > / IDE which makes it trivial to collapse blocks of code or otherwise make it > a lot easier to navigate through long racket programs. Something which would > allow me to look at a program in outline format and then expand/collapse the > outline when I need/don't need to see details. It's cool (really cool, in > fact) that racket comes with DrRacket - I think that really showcases how > extraordinary racket is. However, it's already apparent that, for me, I need > something to manage / hide the "visual clutter" of scheme with all its parens > and (for lack of a better word) mind-numbing presentation. Maybe, in time, > I'll get personally stronger but I won't get there at all at this rate. > > Pascal was probably my favorite language in terms of hiding details. It > encouraged an "outline" form of program development where I could could > create sub-procedures where I could ignore large blocks of code or even > remove them completely out of sight. C wasn't so great in this regard. > > I am determined to master racket and I am hoping it will be the last > programming language I ever really need to learn (because of its strong > "batteries included" orientation; respectable speed; wide range of > application; and on-going development history). > But I am having a miserable time "reading" it. Everything sticks out at the > same time for me and I am unable to really focus on top down thinking -- > which is how my mind works. My visual "recall" is very poor, which > contributes to my problem (I can't remember where things are/ how they are > coded if they are not right in front of me). > > I have been out of programming for a long, long time so I really have no idea > what the state of the art is in IDE and programming editors. I know there > probably is a great environment which does a solid job of supporting racket > development but - MOST OF ALL - makes it trivial to > collapse/expand/"disappear" the majority of program code so I don't have to > wade through stuff which doesn't concern me at the moment. Other strong IDE/ > programming editor features (e.g., super searching across packages and files) > would, of course, be great but for me I fear it mostly comes down to ability > to bundle related portions of the program together and make them collapse > down to a single line. > > An open/free sourced IDE which is available on Linux would be best, although > I could consider developing on Mac or (ugh) Windows. I am open to paying > money, but I would prefer to not be under a vendor's thumb. > > Maybe EMACS or VIM or even Atom could make me happy -- if I could find the > extensions to handle the collapse/expand and (ideally) strong ability to keep > the parens sorted out. > > Any suggestions are appreciated. I really am embarrassed to be asking this > sort of question but I really don't know how to go forward without some > guidance. > > Thanks for any suggestions. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Racket Users" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Racket Users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
