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Carl's REBOL Blog - Vive la REBOLution
Recent Articles:
17-Aug-2010 - Function Descripton Updates [0484]As you know the REBOL 3.0 documentation contains a newer Function Reference section. Although the HTML page layout was cleaned up, most of the descriptions were simply carried-over from R2. Secretly, I had hoped that some brilliant aspiring author would come along and update all the function descriptions... so I wouldn't need to. (It is a Wiki, after all.) Wow, was that a fantasy. Well, I'm not surprised that very little happened. It is a large and difficult task. As the original author of the REBOL Dictionary, I can tell you that it's not any fun at all. And, rare is the technical author who understands both code and how to write docs well. My hopes were set too high. However, I think I've found a solution. Remember my "Documentation Fridays" promise? Nope, sorry, that's not the solution. Forget that idea. I'm always too busy to set aside an entire day like that. Instead, I've begun slack-time utilization. What's that mean? System software design and implementation is a difficult process. You don't just sit down and bang out a few lines. No, it normally takes a couple hours to become fully immersed within the matrix of variables and functions... then you work for as long as you can, until some other event occurs, or you fall asleep. But, frequently during the week there are little time periods where there's not enough time to dive into system code, but you can, if so inclined, hammer out a few doc paragraphs or examples. That's slack time. These days, when a few minutes of slack time pop up, I've been filling-in the blanks on the function description pages. Also, I must admit that I was inspired by the positive feedback I received on the Quick Reference Card. That, and the fact that I looked at the card and started clicking on some of the function links... only to discover "wow, that function is poorly documented." (Not my exact words.) That got me going. So, now, in those few minutes right before lunch, or just after sending some emails, or before retiring for the night, I've been extending the function documentation. I'm following the links from the reference card to start. That's manageable and progress is happening without it taking time from important system development work. To see what functions have been updated, just go to the R3 Documentation page, where I've linked to the most recent changes. I hope you find these small updates useful. I expect many new users may as well. 1-Aug-2010 - Ref Card for Beginners [0483]Over the weekend, while I was out of town, I begin designing a web page that I've wanted to create for years: a REBOL quick reference card for beginners. This one links to the R3 documentation, but we could have one for R2 as well, if it's of interest to users. Also, it's just a draft, and there are more improvements to make in the layout and content. The purpose is to list the most common features and functions of the language. That's useful to new programmers because browsing the function dictionary pages can often be a bit intimidating. It's funny. Most experts don't really use a card like this, so building one ends up as a low priority wish-list task that never happens. It turns out that an old friend created one many years ago and gave me a copy, but I'm not exactly sure what happened to it (and by now it would be out-of-date.) Others have also popped up over the years, but I'm not sure where they are located or if they're still there. Anyway, if you have a function that you use quite often, and it's not listed, click on the suggest link at the top and add your suggestion to the wiki page. Any other suggestions are welcome. 20-Jul-2010 - Investigating Ubuntu Linux 10 Problem [0482]There have been some reports that R2.7 has problems on Ubuntu Linux 10. We've confirmed that this is true and are investigating. It appears to be some problem related to specific elements of the graphics engine, but this is only a quick assessment. We'll take a closer look and see if we can figure out the problem. If not, we'll try doing a native build for Ubuntu 10, and see how that does. An OS Guru's Sidenote:I was looking forward to trying Ubuntu 10... What I found was "very pretty", meaning it has nice graphics, but someone in the Ubuntu project needs to be put in charge of the end-user experience, because quite frankly, it's poor. I was yet again disappointed. (BTW, I've been using Linux since 1993 and eagerly waiting for the day when it would become the OS for more than just us geeks.) In fact, in some regards I'd say its gone backwards from previous releases. Yes, I know the "powers of Ubuntu-land" seek greater OS market share, and certainly with the havoc and chaos that Vista and Windows-7 have hoisted on the greater application marketplace (legacy apps have major problems) there is a huge opportunity here. But the dream of Linux for all desktops still has some major hurdles if this is the best they can do. I was thinking about making a YouTube video of my experience and pointing out the problems along the way, but sorry, I just don't have the time with all the other things I'm working on. Hopefully, someone on the Ubuntu project will emerge as a strong leader of end-user usability, and next time we'll see more than just another pretty Gnome. PS: Please don't write telling me how wonderful it is. I've heard that a thousand times before. Sure, Linux has many, many nice features, but that's a different dimension than truly perfecting usability to the general public. No, instead, I want you to ponder the "Linux Dream" statement from about 1998 that within a few years (meaning by roughly 2002) Linux would dominate the desktop market, not just for techies, but for all computer users. As of 2010, my parents don't use it, my wife doesn't use it (as much as I've urged her to do so), my kids don't use it (well, one toys with it from time to time), nor do any of my neighbors or other non-tech friends. Contemplate that for a minute, or more accurately, put that in your Slackware pipe and smoke it. Honestly, sometimes I think there are Microsoft trolls lurking behind the scenes in the Linux development universe. Think about it.
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Updated 1-Sep-2010 - Copyright Carl Sassenrath - WWW.REBOL.COM - Edit - Blogger Source Code |