Hello, A thoughful fellow listmember has brought it to my attention that I am sounding even more strident than is normal (for me, anyways), and this has prompted me to try to rethink why my reactions are what they are and why they may be perceived differently than I intend them.
So, in keeping with that idea, here's my Mea Culpa/FAQ: (1) No, I do not hate Dan Shafer. I bought his book. Will probably buy one or more of the e-books. Somehow, when whatever went down between him & the company, I wasn't able to get his book in print, which is what I wanted, and I ended up buying something other than what I eventually thought I had bought. I appreciate his and Chipp's efforts on behalf of the RR family. But I still am strident about books needing indices. (2) I don't think the Docs suck. I think they are what they were intended to be, namely, on online language dictionary. They can be hard to use at times, _especially_ if you are not (a) familiar with the HC lineage and/or (b) not a programmer. They're not Danny Goodman's Guide and, although we need something ala Danny Goodman's Guide, they shouldn't be judged harshly for not being what they are not. They're also not a guide to the IDE, which, while needed, is not what they are. Ditto for a set of project-based tutorials which, again, while needed, are not what they are. So why are they the focus of such intense, sometimes negative, reaction? Because they have to serve as all three of those things which they are not in addition to the one thing they are. And this has been a problem, unresolved, for a very long time. And I don't understand why. (3) I don't dislike Rev. In fact, should it go away, I shall retire to Sussex and keep bees or some such thing, because learning C, C++, Python, Java, etc. etc., is just NOT something I'm gonna do. But I don't understand why, when numerous _other_ people note again and again that certain things are problems (scripting tabs, anyone?) and certain things are needed (pre-builts, a comprehensive guide, project-based tutorials), that seemingly NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE? It's almost like there's this disastrous disconnect between what people are telling the company they want/need to see and what the company sees/hears needs to be done. And, sometimes, this gets mixed up with Dan's book and is perceived as an attack on Dan. It's not. It's not an attack on RR, either. It's more like when communication breaks down; one party says something, and the other party acts like _either_ they understood and are ignoring it _or_ they didn't understand it at all, both of which only prompt you to repeat yourself again and again, louder and still louder. But, it's not an attack on Rev: RevOnline is a good idea. But it's not for the novice/new user (I'm looking for something named what in which space under whose user name???). The Scripting Conferences are a good idea... but they emphasize teaching people "how to program" as opposed to "how to make things" (yes, I know that they're really the same thing, but how you couch terms makes a huge difference depending upon your intended audience). The Rev in Ed list is a good thing... in concept... but in reality it seems to be a bunch of confused or overloaded people waiting for something to happen, waiting especially for the company to speak to them as educators instead of providing them with their own mail list to talk to one another, wondering when something is gonna happen. I'm strident BECAUSE I want (selfishly, 'cuz I'm not all that fond of bees, either) RR to succeed. And I don't think complacency or silence about critical gaps will help. Of course, quite possibly, neither does being so loud that people simply stop listening, so, I'm sorry if I've offended. Judy _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
