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[REBOL] Re: RFC: Examples in the auto-documentation

From: gerardcote:sympatico:ca at: 24-Dec-2002 15:19

Hi Ammon,
> If you have used REBOL for very long you have probably discovered the power of the HELP or ? function. I have noticed,
however, that it just barely falls short of a true HELP system. There are no examples given. I would love it if there was a way to make this happen. Maybe by having the first string in the function declaration block be the example. For example: ;-)
[...]
> I propose that we get: > > >> ? my-func > USAGE: > MY-FUNC 'word > > DESCRIPTION: > prints the value of a word > MY-FUNC is a function value. > > ARGUMENTS: > word -- (Type: any-word) > > EXAMPLE: > my-word: "My word!" > my-func my-word > ;would return > ;my-word is a word with a value of: "My word! > > By doing it this way it would enhance the system without breaking anything, or causing any backwards compatibility issues.
Any thoughts or comments?
I also thought about this - and this would be a fine addition. However I think that this would be to much overcharge for the Actual Footprint of REBOL. In fact I would prefer an external add-on Help system that could be called automatically by the main REBOL engine if he is finding such external reference in the user.r or pref.r. This could so be added only by the ppl. that really need this kind of HELP without bothering thos that don't need it and this could be changed locally if anybody wants it to do so. to suit the language and personal additions - But then there should also be some way to submit any new additions to a central database repositary that the RT or some delegate could maintain for them under approval ... For the data formats, I didn't think about them but you already got an overview for the possible final results from the official REBOL dictionary. However I don't really know how this can be handled internally by REBOL and I leave this exercise to others. Regards, Gerard