For true beginners

Ken Norris pixelbird at interisland.net
Mon Aug 11 01:22:01 EDT 2003


Hi Mike,

> Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 12:31:17 -0700
> Subject: Re: For true beginners
> From: Michael Robinson <mikkimi at mindspring.com>
> 
> Richard Gaskin's  work on this, with his
> extensive comments on the why's, where's and how to write scripts to
> execute no matter what platform you do a build for is just brilliant.
> As I read through some of the postings here I can sometimes tell when
> when other people are using "Employe DataBase" as a starting point and
> if you have to start somewhere it does not get any better than "Employe
> DataBase".
----------
Yes, I agree, it's probably the best thing going, (many thanks to Richard),
and while I find it is presents a reasonable scripting model I still found
it a little over the head of a beginner. And it's generic enough to modify
for other things, but it doesn't cover what I'm talking about.

Most HC users didn't start right out dealing with scripts at all, but simply
by using stack templates for any number of different solutions, any one of
which could be modified from a selection of 'canned' buttons and fields,
i.e., prewritten elements.

With Rev, a dynamic difference could be had by doing similar things with
palette windows, which are severely limited (without delving deeply into
HC's PLTE resource) in HC. For example, if Rev could supply the potential
beginner with a really useful set of 'canned' palettes, it would go a long
way to opening the possibilities of using Rev without ever typing a word of
script. 

Then, as they get used to the ease of making their own apps, they can begin
to look at deeper customizing by opening up the hood (or 'bonnet' if you're
a Brit ;-)), and adding/altering scripts, and, eventually writing their own
scripts from scratch.

If we start with the unknown, i.e., 'How Does Rev Work?', and work backwards
to a known point, i.e., 'Clicking This Button Makes X Happen', then anyone
will automatically know where they are when they start out.

When I taught navigation to Civil Air Patrol cadets, I would start with
objects moving in space and work down to lines drawn on the earth's surface.
As I got closer to familiar frames of reference, I could literally watch the
lights come on in their heads. Then we'd get out the charts and plot a
course to another airport, go get into the aircraft, and fly to it. It
worked every time...they understood it, and acquired a skill they could use
the rest of their lives.

Ken N.






More information about the use-livecode mailing list