Hi Richard As it’s evident I’m interested in this, I had a quick look through the User’s Guide sections on arrays as you suggested to Thierry. FWIW I think it is pretty helpful, and it gives a very good idea of the power of LC arrays and the corresponding built-in operations.
I think the vocabulary needs tightening up a bit, especially with the term ‘sub-array’. This needs to be explained at the beginning, I think. Also the examples could be expanded: for instance, when it explains that the arithmetic operations applying to arrays work on > all the elements in an array where the element is a number there are no examples of arrays which mix numbers with elements that aren't numbers (is the text 'one' a number or not, for example? Is an element which is an array containing only numbers a number? I think this kind of thing should not be left as an 'exercise for the reader' as my old maths books used to say.) Another point is to be a bit more explicit about the fact that these are associative arrays, since some readers will have come from a background where arrays always have numeric keys and are thus inherently ordered (I am one of these people). Another thing that might occur to someone who's used a different environment is to wonder whether if I put say a number in an array element, can I then replace it with an array or some other kind of item? The answer has to be 'yes', which in a way is a consequence of LiveCode not using strong data types. There is also a certain amount of jumping around required of the reader - for example, the User Guide makes you look up 'combine' in the Dictionary if you want to find out if it's possible to preserve the keys of an array during a 'combine' (it is). It would be better, I think, to have a bit of redundancy and put this info in the Guide along with an example. I could go on, but perhaps it wouldn't be productive. Cheers Graham > > > On 1 Apr 2015, at 18:59, Richard Gaskin <ambassa...@fourthworld.com> wrote: > > Thierry Douez wrote: >>>> >>>> http://lessons.runrev.com/searches?utf8=✓&text=array&commit=Search >>> >>> As we explore options for unifying and expanding various help resources in >>> the community it would be helpful to know, what is it about the lessons that >>> seems "scary"? >> >> replace "scary" by "intimidating" in your post >> >> Sounds better? :) >> >> the subject is ABC... > > Thanks. If you have any thoughts on how the lessons might adopt a friendlier > writing style, I'd be happy to pass that along to the docs team. The goal of > the Lessons is to provide topic-specific entry points for learning LiveCode > basics, so if they're missing the mark we need to refine them. > > For general info, have you found the User Guide's discussion of arrays > helpful? Arrays are introduced in Section 5.5.7 beginning on page 147 as > part of the "Variables" section, with further details in Section 6.5, "Using > Arrays", beginning on page 183. > > The docs are being dramatically revised, so your feedback is very helpful. > > -- > Richard Gaskin > LiveCode Community Manager > rich...@livecode.org > > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
