Subject: Re: Another Area For Document Development
FWIW, this is one of the areas I'm trying to tackle in my project. The
solution I'm considering currently (which is geared strictly towards
nonprogrammers) is to provide sample stacks with sample scripted goodies
(ala Hypercard's 'Sample buttons' & 'Sample fields' stacks). I'm leaning
towards this method for the following reasons:
1. People hate reading manuals/documentation (it can be confusing and
frustrating for the very reasons you outlined...
2. The documentation isn't visual, so even providing a cookbook script
doesn't tell you how to go about implementing it in a meaningful way
(especially if you are a nonprogrammer).
3. Sample stacks put the items in both a visual and contextual frame of
reference. People can look at the item, look at the script, and observe
the output without having to look at a page of code and then try
copy-pasting or typing things in and hoping one got everything together
where it was supposed to be).
4. Sample stacks provide for code reuse and modification -...
Thoughts?
Judy
Hi Judy,
Sounds like a great addition. Again it is aimed at the new programer. (We were all new at one time. Actually we usually are new quite a few times, because RR is rarely the first language a person has used. The learning process just comes faster if we have been through the process a few times.)
Maybe there are few sample stacks because are just less interesting to make. If RevNet is any index of this, note that the Tutorials category in the Stacks section is by far the most sparsely populated.
True, the advanced programer will need tutorials a lot less, but even we benefit from them, it just less time for us to go through them.
In contrast, there are a lot of libraries and tools available through RevNet.
Yes, but many newbies go "what's a library?" Searching the docs in 2.2 reveals 398 matches. He has to get down to #202 before he finds out what a library is. He does this by following the description Under the Heading "How to create a library":
A library is a set of custom commands and custom functions for a specific application or a specific area of functionality. For example, if you�re writing an image-transformation application, you might want to collect your transformation handlers in one place, where you can easily use any of them from any script in your application.
To create a code library, place the handlers you want to re-use in any object that�s available in your stack, then use the insert script command to add that object to the message path, as in the following example:
insert script of group "MyLib" into back
Handlers in that object�s script are now accessible to any other handler in Revolution.
-- Richard Gaskin Fourth World Media Corporation _
Right, but, again, I'd guess that most folks perusing RevNet aren't total
programming newbies.
Yep, that's the point.
Nope, but the "fun" that new people have in trying to work through these issues without a guide is an indicator of it's importance.I don't find example stacks boring to make... but I'd probably find documentation not fun... still, the fun factor or lack thereof isn't necessarily an indicator of importance, is it?
David with his tabs question -- if there were a buttons example stack that
he could have taken apart, perhaps he wouldn't have needed 5 or so emails to the group... Not that the number is significant, but an absolute
novice probably would have just given up in frustration and gone back to
PowerPoint after the first two...
Judy
People learn by example. Seeing an example of it , reading about it, taking it apart, seeing how it compares with what I want it to do. The examples don't have to be full featured programs, but they do need to be starting places which will get people going on the right track.
Dave Calkins
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