[REBOL] Re: One-Liners back in town!
From: gerardcote:sympatico:ca at: 24-Nov-2002 10:31
Hi Ashley,
I'm glad you're completely ON TRACK with this most pertinent remark since it goes hand
in hand with my pov. this is why I recommend
to
well document every one-liner (even shortly if no time avail or if don't see the necessity
to do it thoroughly) as to what it does
first and if it must be splitted further in simpler things, THIS MUST ABSOLUTELY be
done according to me - for newcomers and as we commonly say here "for posterity", and
that comes with some clear idea to me about
the why and how of all that : teaching REBOL to youngsters and other learners too.
But since I know that every spirit must also be free to think to his dreams, we can't
stop everyone to dream about what can be done
in a one-liner, even if this counts as many small "disjoint but cumulative effect" steps.
We should however help others to better
understand REBOL by shedding some light to every fine details that can be a REAL WALL
when you come to REBOL for the many first
times.
So here is my real idea about all those one-liners, relative to every one-liner created
in some way :
1) For every submit - to keep FUN and SURPRISE for everyone that listens, the author
should do its best to seperately submit (later
if he doesn't want to kill the ORIGINAL spirit of such an informal contest and the flame
that goes with it as I really feel it in
this ML now!!! and I share this with everybody else very much you can believe me ...
since it is an attractive, distractive and
informal way to learn some new material - As a teacher I suggest that more if not most
courses and classes should follow and include
this pattern for many parts of every syllabi or even entire curricula as pragmatic ways
to help motivate learners, create a better
learning efficiency and help keeping retention for so many details - Oups! SORRY for
this long paren but I like to think in REBOL
myself with the add-on of any new concept I recently learned and since Carl READ remindde
me of the usefulness of Paren when we are
using some DIALECTS I have catched it now but ...
For a sysnthesis, every submit should be accompanied - but separately delivered and later
if the creator chooses to do it so - by
doc that should clearly present all the global goal, and the small steps that had to
be put together to get the work done, and in
some cases slightly explain in global terms the real difficulties that had to be overcome
- that is the many improvement or modifs
that gave way to the final submit and that without it could be very difficult to figure
out the HOW and WHY of every word or
combination of it - don't neglect too that in some cases, you can refer to some OFFICIAL
doc or discovery explaining where you found
your own doc. It could help others to go further too.
In fact keep it in the 2 complementary spirits that shloud be everywhere - when time
and pleasure comes along for sure but it
doesn't need to be in the same moment : keep it fun for yourself and others to read and
as simple as possible even if this part
needs some explanations of the way you finally got it + the steps when needed.
This alone will warrant the survival of REBOL and its friendliness as a real tool in
the life of the many others that otherwise will
leave it - you can't consider it as a big part of the NATURE truth - but I am not a prophet,
I simply analysed for more than 20
years now how ppl learn : if it is fun and understandable - to some extent this can't
go over some limit however and I agree for
this too.
Sorry for this lengthy discussion but I really thinks that some foundation of the current
spirit the programming comes from this
kind of feeling and I would like REBOL to CONTINUE to be a TRUE part of it for many more
ppl that comes and currently say : Wow it
seems fun but I can't take too much time to learn it - since it seems so different and
so powerful, the learbning curve must be so
high - and really it is in some regards but keeping it fun and entertaining is the way
to go without regrets, except for the authors
that didn't know that they were teaching others that are listening them. After all we
all teach others something in the life ... and
those that bettr stand the road of success in this way are those that keep HIGH the motivation
and fill in good part most of the
interests of their listeners - simply think about humorists and good teachers you got
in school and those about whom you are
remembering of ...
Thanks for listening, and keep submitting new DISCOVERY One-liner (or many more lines
if you prefer) stuff
Gerard
P.S. Ashely you got it the first time and I simply waited until someone would digress
about the way I did it when adding the DISPLAY
part in addition to the CREATE part of the original submit. the idea was submitted by
someone else but I retained the idea because
sometimes someone dreams of something to do and this idea is grouping in fact many small
steps ... but you already know all this - I
simply wanted to shed some light to it in FAVOR of keep it simple for others even if
this must be in a mix and match way !!!
Furthermore your explanation of the 2 following submits are a really nice discussion
of the kind of doc or discussion I think should
accompany (or follow) any REBOL script, and many of the finer points you raised are worth
their weight in gold for every newcomer to
REBOL (Thanks to my dictionary for this expression- Copyright © 2000, Harrap's Multimedia,
© 2000, Havas Interactive) in the way
someone thinks to resolve the difficulties added (surely not put there on a voluntary
basis) by the creator, that is not prone to by
going from a general solution to a specialized (or refined) one.
For example you clearly solved for me many of the questions I had about to figure out
how was the clock script using all these messy
details (parameters). I didn't find the time nor the docs right at hand on my first reading
and I simply put it aside for future
study - but I don't know when I would have done it - until I really would have needed
it I think ...
Keep it clear in the intentions without adding some details in the first run - just to
keep it under the 80 chars limit. I am sure
this spirit alone can ATTRACT and RETAIN many more ppl to the REBOL community and keep
them sticked to the language itself better
than any other advertizing ... even if it is necessary to spread the word about. The
logic here is when they will come our troups
must be ready to support them without too much overhead for us too. As a newcomer I think
I should get so much self-study material
(going the described way) as I am further able to take myself in charge of my own success
story when it comes to learn and use REBOL
on a first basis. But I nevertheless love this ML ... and you all for your inestimable
support and to be so attentive to our needs
as newcomers. Thanks again!