I think the Java Tutorial "trail" approach would be a good fit for this:
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/reallybigindex.html For example, there already is a "Creating a GUI with JFC/Swing" trail: http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/index.html Similar to this in concept, there could be a "Building a webapp with Struts" trail. Granted, this may not belong in the "reallybigindex" maintained by Sun because Struts is under the Apache umbrella. However, it might be time to setup a "reallybigindex" for an online Apache Tutorial comprised of trails similar to the way trails are used in Sun's online Java Tutorial. Specifically with respect to learning Struts though, there is already a significant amount of online learning material to be found directly or indirectly from here: http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/learning.html Still, I do see the value in having trails that organize some of the online information in various trails to follow through this wealth of information. I'm not sure how to go about initiating such a project at Apache, but, I am willing to volunteer some time to contribute to the creation of a "Building a webapp with Struts" trail. Does anyone else think this would be a good idea? Anyone else interested in volunteering some time to build a Struts trail? If there is enough interest, I would be glad to setup a separate mailing list for further discussion among interested volunteers on creation of this trail. Thanks, Mike Van Riper mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----Original Message----- > From: Simon Kelly [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 1:01 AM > To: Struts Users Mailing List > Subject: Re: [OT] Learning Curve Management or Confusions of a Newbie > > > Jeff you are not alone in this. I've been at this for six > months and have > gone through pretty much the same set of problems. The thing > with what you > are suggesting (and this is only my opinion) is, "Who will do > it *AND* look > after it?". The trouble is (and I have found this through > searching the > net) the shear volume of papers, documents, examples and > postings (150+ per > day) that would have to be referenced and collected to make > this of any use > to people. And I have to say, I DO NOT want the job :-) > > Cheers > > Simon > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jeff Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Struts Users Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 9:05 AM > Subject: [OT] Learning Curve Management or Confusions of a Newbie > > > I have to confess, I'm a newbie. I've been a C/C++ programmer > for 20 years, > but after dinking around for a few months with ASP, VBScript, > PHP and a few > other technologies, I decided that Java was the language to > build my web > apps in. > > A month ago I was completely cold. Didn't know the first > thing about any of > this stuff. But I knew I wanted to learn it, so off I went, > marching into > the high weeds. First I had to learn Java. Then came servlets > and JSPs and > Tomcat. And along that path I also had to absorb Ant. And > JUnit. And Log4J. > And then there was a bunch of time lost exploring > NetBeans/Eclipse/WebSphere > before settling on JEdit as my environment of choice. > > Then came Struts, and all the various taglibs. An experiment > with Cayenne. > And Cactus. And god-knows what else I've explored. > > And through it all, I am continually amazed at the strength > and breadth of > the resources and support available. And equally frustrated > by it. I can > never remember where I saw a particular bit of information. So when I > finally learn enough to understand what Ted was talking about in his > monograph on Connection Pooling, I can't remember where I saw it. > > And when I want to learn enough about EJBs to figure out if I > need to care > about them, or if they are relevant to my planned project, I > have to wade > through another day of voluminous coverage before I have > enough of a handle > on what they are to make some intelligent guesses about where > to look next. > > My point is that I believe the Apache/Java/Struts/... > universe is quickly > reaching a point where its very breadth is becoming a barrier > to entry for > people who don't have a couple of months to devote to bootstrapping > themselves. > > Is there any thought being given to creating a higher-level resource > interface that could serve as a single point of reference for > all things > Apache? (I realize that "all things java" would be going way > too far.) As a > simple solution, if every document in the Apache > infrastructure had a meta > tag that listed the questions answered by the document, then a very > powerful, automated FAQ could be maintained. And such a > system would make it > much easier (I believe) to find things quickly than simply > searching the > site for key words. > > This may not be the best (or only) solution, but I do believe > that for all > the very specific support and discussions there are, there is > really very > little over-view material to assist newcomers or people looking for > information outside of their core area. > > Or maybe I'm the only one who feels overwhelmed by it all. :-) > > Jefficus > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
