$.02 on documentation and 'killer apps' from a lurking newbie. 

I downloaded Squeak a few months ago, have had a little time to play with it and have been lurking about the list for a while. I'm not a newbie to programming (been programming professionally since 1976), but am new to Smalltalk (have hacked with Smalltalk on and of since early 80s). 

Documentation: How do I learn this thing?
My daughter has expressed an interest in learning how to program. Since we're taking a long trip this summer, we decided to take our Mac on the road with us and learn to program. Currently, we're considering Squeak or Python (no language wars, just I insist my daughter's first language be cross platform and Squeak/Python are two languages which interest me). 

This brings us immediately to our first documentation need--Squeak docs must be downloadable or printable since we're going to be way off the 'Net. 

Need two: VERY simple getting started a, b, c documentation. Do this, do that, see what happens. Now, the reason you had to write it this way, and the way it happens is..... Once beyond a basic understanding of Squeak, class documentation tends to be very useful. However, getting started in an unfamiliar product with either very little time or non-programmers is intimidating. 

Since I see a comment about Python on the list this morning, this brings me to my second topic: Why learn this language? I'm not looking for reasons such as truly object oriented, rich frameworks, etc. I understand that. However, as a professional, busy, overloaded programmer, why should I learn this one additional language (aside from personal pleasure)? 

Enter the 'killer app.' I was recently referenced to a product called Zope <http://www.zope.org>, a freeware Application Server that implements, among other things, a protocol called WebDAV <http://www.webdav.org> for Distributed Authoring and Versioning. Turns out the product is written completely in Python and, to use it fully you need to learn Python. So, my decision about whether or not to learn that language is made for me. Time to hit the O'Reilly books if I want access to this interesting product. 

So, back to lurk mode and perhaps I'll be less of a newbie on Squeak by fall. 

Ray

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Raymond Cote, President                 Appropriate Solutions, Inc.
www.AppropriateSolutions.com       rgacote at AppropriateSolutions.com
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