Hi,
> What is hard in Rebol?
> It seems, one of the biggest hurdle for programmers learning
Rebol, maybe
> more so for experienced programmers, is integrating the
functional
> programming approach.
Perhaps the word "hard" is a bit extreme. After all, nearly
everything is hard until you "get it". I think I've "got" Rebol
now, most of it anyway. What's troubling me now, is the amount
of time it takes me to get stuff to work due to the difficulty
of finding things in the docs. It seems that I've always been
able to get productive with other languages fairly quickly once
getting up the initial learning curve. It doesn't seem to be
working for me that way with Rebol.
Even now, I'm not quite sure whether its best to begin learning
Rebol by bridging from functional programming concepts or not. I
think that for me, it both helped me and hurt me. It helped that
I could build on my previous knowledge and experience, but It
also hurt when I'd run into unexpected traps where the
functional model broke down in the Rebol context, at which point
the lack of documentation left me with nowhere to turn for
additional information.
And I'm also not too sure that experienced programmers have a
harder time with Rebol than inexperienced ones. I think that
it's an assumption that needs to be verified. Having learned so
many languages in the past from the documentation, even
"strange" languages like Perl and Icon, it was the availability
of the their docs that got me up and working more quickly than
I've been able to do with Rebol.
IMO, we may be seriously underestimating the degree that Rebol's
current documentation is handicapping both experienced and
inexperienced programmers in subtle but profound ways. One of
the most important virtues of good programmers is persistence,
i.e., a high tolerance for failure and frustration. Rebol
initially seems to require a level of persistence that borders
on the heroic. Since heroes are always few and far between,
perhaps this explains a little bit about why so many don't
"stick" with Rebol.
Likewise, we may be overestimating the degree of assistance
Rebol's innovative "help" and "source" features actually provide
for newbies. I think that they're invaluable conveniences for
those already experienced with Rebol, but perhaps not so much
for those just getting started. I know that I'm finding them to
be a lot more helpful as I gain experience with Rebol.
Best regards,
Bernie Schneider
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being
overwhelmed
by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try
it, you will
be lonely often and sometimes frightened. But no price is too
high to pay
for the privilege of owning yourself.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche --
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