[REBOL] Re: REBOL Cookbook in Beta
From: Steven:White:ci:bloomington:mn:us at: 29-Aug-2003 9:46
An excellent idea. There probably are some things locked in the head of
the Founder that would be very enlightening to others. Permit me, as a
perpetual beginner, to try to explain some things that keep stumping me.
They might give others some ideas.
1. What must one say? There seems to be a number of functions that
are important (or critical) in certain situations. The ones that come
to mind are reduce/mold/remold/compose/form/reform. You can look each
up in the dictionary to find out what it does, but the reverse
information is hard to gather: When might you expect to need them, what
is the purpose behind them, what will not work if I don't use them.
2. What is the recommended way? This is an area that is being
addressed by the cookbook, but an idea for the cookbook immediately
comes to mind. Most programs need to store some data. Some of the
functions must have been created with this need in mind. I am still not
sure if there is a recommended way to make a small data base. Does one
make a block, and then store and load it? Are read/write the
appropriate functions for storing data with some structure to it? The
Complete Guide, with its video data base was helpful; is that the way
one is expected to make a REBOL data base?
3. System words. I see in the library and on the mailing list lots of
references to system/this and system/that. I have not observed any
documentation on what these are and what they might be used for.
4. Generic words. This might not apply to others, but I come from a
background of computer languages with reserved words. When I first saw
REBOL examples, they were very confusing because a lot of the words
(which I would call "data names") were short little things, like "file,"
that triggered in my corrupted mind the concept of "reserved word" or
command.
On top of that, they were all lower case with no
punctuation. Reading through examples was like translating Latin. In
the few REBOL programs I have written I have made all the words of my
own invention upper case with at least one hyphen, to make it obvious
that they are not REBOL functions.
5. Uncommented samples. Short, "straight-line" samples are fairly
easy to understand with the aid of the dictionary, but when a scripts
gets longer and has some functions, I find it hard to locate some firm
ground to stand on to get a view of what is going on. I sent a sample
to the library (popcheck.r, which I see made it in) that I wrote at
first for my own use, and to make it easy for me to remember how it
worked I commented it to a level that many would consider excessive. I
think that for a beginner excessive commenting would be one of the most
valuable tools for helping him understand.
Sorry if this is excessively long.
Steven White
City of Bloomington
2215 W Old Shakopee Rd
Bloomington MN 55431-3096
USA
952-563-4882 (voice)
952-563-4672 (fax)
[swhite--ci--bloomington--mn--us]
>>> [carl--rebol--com] 08/28/03 04:25PM >>>
This is something I've wanted to do for a long time (about five
years):
The REBOL Cookbook.
With the recent surge in new REBOL users, we've been getting feedback
that there should be an easier way to learn REBOL from examples.
New users don't want to read a 720 page manual. (Many of them are kids
and young adults.) Sure the library at rebol.org is great, but
beginners want
more than just raw code - they need some help.
So, check out http://www.rebol.net/cookbook/ to see the beta. And, if
you
feel like joining in, I welcome you and appreciate it greatly. Just
dust off
your favorite REBOL example, add a few notes, and post it to the
cookbook
(which is moderated by the way).
Once we get 20 or 30 "recipes" we'll announce the Cookbook on the home
page.
Ah... it feels good to get this thing up and running finally. Let me
know how it
works for you.
-Carl
