On Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 08:49 horrido <horrido.hobb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is what I provided the JRMPC participants: https://jrmpc.ca/ (see > "How > to learn Smalltalk programming"). I'm not sure how I could've done better, > though. > > You make an excellent point about duplication and keeping documentation > up-to-date. However, there has to be some middle ground that makes it > easier > and more convenient for new developers to find the tools they need. Perhaps > a synoptical reference showing the more common classes used, such as > collections, web-related classes, time-related classes, exception and error > classes, file system-related classes, process-related classes, and so on. > These classes ought not to change much, if at all. > I agree with this. So many times I have seen documentation that could be compared to what results from throwing a plate of spaghetti (Bolognese!) at a wall. Usually what's lacking is the kind of information that might be called a road map. Not so much in the sense of a set of directions, but like a real road map or a transit system map, lays out the routes and shows the connections between important places. Pulling numbers out of thin air, it might be that as little as 1% of the system details would suffice to show a novice how things fit together and how to easily navigate the detailed information. Like you suggest, this small fraction would be at a high enough level or of such importance that it would be unlikely to become stale. > > > Tim Mackinnon wrote > > Or we teach people to fish…? What’s the point of duplicating everything > > that’s already in the image anyway - we just need to be cleverer or > ensure > > that people know to look there and have the right onboarding experience > to > > do that? Otherwise its just another thing that gets out of date very > > rapidly and we already have enough problems with that. > > > > I’d be interested in what intro material Richard gave the students to > > start with (after all - he has quite a few tutorials of his own, some of > > which I had followed - but I suspect they are out of date now > themselves). > > When you launch pharo there is the helpful welcome screen - did the > > student’s actually use it and follow what it says? > > > > And did we see any of them in this forum (or was that against the rules?) > > > > Tim > > > >> On 24 Mar 2020, at 17:28, Ben Coman < > > > btc@ > > > > wrote: > >> > >> Pharo has some good documentation, but its more lesson-based than a > >> library reference. > >> Those of us familiar with Pharo know the tricks to use the system itself > >> as that reference, but I'd imagine this is an unfamiliar workflow for > >> newcomers. > >> > >> I have seen before a class library reference generated from the image, > >> but I couldn't put my hands on it right now. > >> @all, is it still being generated?. This might provide newcomers > >> something more familiar to work with. > >> > >> cheers -ben > >> > >> On Tue, 24 Mar 2020 at 03:00, Richard Kenneth Eng < > > > horrido.hobbies@ > > > <mailto: > > > horrido.hobbies@ > > > >> wrote: > >> https://jrmpc.ca/2020/03/20/what-makes-learning-smalltalk-challenging/ > >> < > https://jrmpc.ca/2020/03/20/what-makes-learning-smalltalk-challenging/> > > >> > >> FWIW, 95% of respondents pointed to the lack of reference documentation > >> for the class library as the major obstacle to learning Smalltalk/Pharo. > >> > >> Richard > > > > > > -- > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > >
