For the True Beginner

[Dan Shafer]

On Monday, August 11, 2003, at 11:04 AM, Ken Norris  wrote:

> Yep! That's exactly what I was thinking! If it hadn't been for the 
> ease of
> doing that kind of unintimidating, unassuming introduction to using 
> HC, I
> bet half this group here wouldn't exist.
>
Have you looked at the cookbook stuff in the new release? These things 
are incredible, folks! And I can't understand why they haven't gotten 
more fanfare and visibility.

Just for example.

Open documentation. Click on "Documentation by Category." Then click on 
"Centering a stack window on a screen."

Notice in the upper right corner the icon of a button and a hand 
pointer.

Now read the script discussion. Then click on the icon. Voila, a stack 
with a button demonstrating the behavior.

Voila! A readymade button. The only thing they haven't done is automate 
the copy-paste process. There are *dozens* of these things in the 
online docs.

This has to be the best online documentation I've ever seen in an IDE. 
Period. And I've reviewed probably 40 or 50 such tools.

I think RunRev is only a few basic steps away from being able to create 
a smashing out-of-the-box experience for the beginner that would equal 
or surpass what HyperCard has/had.

> The only caveat would be to make sure people advancing to deeper levels
> would need to invest in Rev further, so that they can be properly 
> tutored
> into using professional scripting methods and produce quality work if
> intended for the marketplace.
>
This progressive revelation is the core to the power, IMNSHO.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Shafer, Revolutionary
Author of forthcoming 3-book set,
"Revolution: Programming at the Speed of Thought"
http://www.revolutionpros.com for More Info