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<p><tt>"Squeak as the best documented Smalltalk system"</tt><br>
+1<br>
<br>
30 tutorials is a great idea, but don't forget video.<br>
A video walkthrough of each tutorial would be excellent and would serve for teaching tool usage as well.<br>
<br>
I love the smell of progress in the morning!<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Sam<br>
<br>
<br>
Sam S. Adams, IBM Distinguished Engineer, IBM Research<br>
Mobile: 919-696-6064, email: ssadams@us.ibm.com<br>
Asst: Kenndra K. Quiles. (732) 926-2292 Fax: (732) 926-2455, email: Kenndra@us.ibm.com<br>
<<Hebrews 11:6, Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 1:16-17, I Corinthians 1:10>><br>
<br>
<br>
<tt>squeak-dev-bounces@lists.squeakfoundation.org wrote on 04/28/2010 08:15:35 AM:<br>
<br>
> Hannes Hirzel <hannes.hirzel@gmail.com> </tt><br>
<tt>> Sent by: squeak-dev-bounces@lists.squeakfoundation.org<br>
> </tt><br>
<tt>> 04/28/2010 08:15 AM</tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> Please respond to<br>
> The general-purpose Squeak developers list <squeak-<br>
> dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org></tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> To</tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> The general-purpose Squeak developers list <squeak-<br>
> dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org></tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> cc</tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> Subject</tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> Re: [squeak-dev] What is the plan for 4.2?</tt><br>
<tt>> <br>
> Thank you Michael for your detailed and interesting answer.<br>
> I put in some comments below<br>
> <br>
> --Hannes<br>
> <br>
> On 4/26/10, Michael Haupt <mhaupt@gmail.com> wrote:<br>
> > Hi Hannes,<br>
> ><br>
> > On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 9:52 PM, Hannes Hirzel <hannes.hirzel@gmail.com><br>
> > wrote:<br>
> >> However for the vision part you brought up the idea of<br>
> >><br>
> >> "Squeak as the best documented Smalltalk system"<br>
> >><br>
> >> I like this idea.<br>
> ><br>
> > cool, thanks. :-)<br>
> ><br>
> >> A friend of mine is a 70 year old mathematician who used to work for<br>
> >> IBM 40 years ago. She says that she was taught at that documentation<br>
> >> is 50% of the product. I think this still applies. ...<br>
> ><br>
> > It certainly does!<br>
> ><br>
> >> API documentation is fine but process oriented documentation is needed<br>
> >> in addition.<br>
> ><br>
> > Absolutely. I don't really know about others, but I usually learn much<br>
> > better from tutorials, extrapolating usage patterns, than from sheer<br>
> > API documentation. Recently, I learned how to use Java 7's<br>
> > INVOKEDYNAMIC by reading the API documentation from alpha to omega.<br>
> > That was interesting, but not much fun, I can tell you.<br>
> ><br>
> > A much different but very interesting approach is the one Bruce Tate<br>
> > takes in his upcoming book "Seven Languages in Seven Weeks" (Pragmatic<br>
> > Programmers), in which he introduces (in the given order) Ruby, Io,<br>
> > Prolog, Scala, Erlang, Clojure, and Haskell. Each language is briefly<br>
> > introduced at a high level, and then there are examples. Lots of them,<br>
> > and they very very quickly leave "Hello, world" style things behind,<br>
> > introducing the really interesting bits of those languages without<br>
> > getting overly complicated. (The Haskell chapter has not yet been<br>
> > written, but the Clojure one has just been released in beta stage.)<br>
> ><br>
> > Another great text is "Real World Haskell" by Bryan O'Sullivan, Don<br>
> > Stewart, and John Goerzen. A wonderfully practical book on a<br>
> > supposedly academic language. During the first few chapters, the<br>
> > authors walk you through accessing the file system already, and some<br>
> > chapters on, there is a complete bar code reader, from parsing the<br>
> > input file (GIF, I think) over adjusting the layout of the code to<br>
> > scanning the bars and emitting the code. *Cool*.<br>
> ><br>
> > What I want to say is that such things are needed for Squeak. Not at<br>
> > the same order of magnitude (I'm talking about books with several<br>
> > hundreds of pages each), but in the same vein. I'm also not talking<br>
> > about SBE - it's wonderful and important, but concentrates on the<br>
> > tools more than on building mid-scale or larger-scale applications.<br>
> ><br>
> >> Maybe we could have a goal of motivating 30 people contributing to<br>
> >> documentation. Everyone writing a little tutorial and with a small<br>
> >> sample application.<br>
> ><br>
> > Or 15 people with 2 tutorials each, or 10 with 3, or whatever.<br>
> <br>
> YES,<br>
> One or two people probably will provide 5 tutorials, maybe three<br>
> people 3 tutorials and the rest two or one tutorials.<br>
> <br>
> 30 tutorials is a reasonable goal I think. There are people in the<br>
> documentation thread who have shown interest.<br>
> Here<br>
> <a href="http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-April/149074.html">http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-April/149074.html</a><br>
> and more here<br>
> <br>
> <a href="http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-April/149174.html">http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/pipermail/squeak-dev/2010-April/149174.html</a><br>
> <br>
> Some of them might have tutorials where just some dusting off is<br>
> needed and a check if it still works in 4.1.<br>
> <br>
> For writing the tutorials my recommendation is to use Torsten<br>
> Bergmann's HelpSystem. As it is now it is good enough I think. And it<br>
> can by loaded through the help menu entry 'Extending the system' as of<br>
> now.<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> >> A calculator, a game, puzzles, a scrapbook, a world clock, ToolBuilder<br>
> >> examples, a small parser, some simulations, a little spreadsheet for<br>
> >> doing a simple budget, a flash card came, a sound library browser, an<br>
> >> outliner, the HelpSystem (with tags), a browser for flickr, a curl<br>
> >> plugin example, example accessing this NON-relational databases (JSON<br>
> >> based), a website done with Http view, links to Seaside more<br>
> >> examples,.... you name it.<br>
> ><br>
> > I could contribute a Z80 emulator. And probably a Smalltalk VM. ;-)<br>
> ><br>
> > Best,<br>
> ><br>
> > Michael<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> <br>
> <br>
> You mention the upcoming book of Bruce Tate "Seven Languages in Seven<br>
> Weeks" (Pragmatic Programmers), in which he introduces (in the given<br>
> order) Ruby, Io,<br>
> Prolog, Scala, Erlang, Clojure, and Haskell.<br>
> <br>
> You mention that it will contain 'lots of examples'.<br>
> <br>
> That is what we need.<br>
> <br>
> Regarding the Z80 emulator. Yes I think that is a good idea. I assume<br>
> it runs old Z80 games at a reasonable speed these days?<br>
> <br>
> And maybe that example could be used for an implementation of the MMIX<br>
> RISC computer<br>
> <a href="http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/mmix.html">http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/mmix.html</a><br>
> <br>
> And this would lead to a generic set of classes for implementing these<br>
> kinds of emulators.....<br>
> <br>
> Anyhow it need not be. The Z80 emulator as such is fine.<br>
> Other people on the list might provide other interpreters.<br>
> <br>
> As the heading of this thread is 'What is the plan for 4.2?' we should<br>
> try to come up with a list<br>
> <br>
> - title<br>
> - summary<br>
> - main responsible,<br>
> - other contact persons<br>
> - status<br>
> <br>
> (it's OK for the time being if this list stays within this email thread)<br>
> <br>
> Going through the wiki could be helpful as well. A suggestion, please,<br>
> for all people who start doing this, may I kindly ask you to "earmark"<br>
> pages on that wiki you think are useful with the tag<br>
> 'RelevantForSqueak41"<br>
> <br>
> --Hannes<br>
> <br>
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