me - the potential buyer

[revolution at knowledgeworks.plus.com]

>>
As a newcomer, I can tell you that the online help system 
stinks - not enough examples, not enough detail in the 
vocabulary/syntax areas, and a vaporware manual. Try finding how to use 
the debug feature of the program.
<<

John,

I agree with you about the debugger - it is hard to get your head round that at first.  But to state it quite bluntly - there are so many areas of IT that have less than adequate documentation, that I don't feel that Rev is by any means the worst offender.  I have looked at several other RAD tools in the past year, and they were all harder to grasp than Rev.

When I first started to use Rev last year I had no experience or knowledge of Hypercard.  I thought the tutorials in the online documentation were ok, but after doing them I felt that they had only begun as tutorials.  So, I bought Danny Goodman's books on Hypercard (which have always been well recommended), and the Winkler book on Hypertalk (Dan Winkler, Scott Kamins and Jeanne DeVoto).

After I finished both volumes of the Goodman book, I felt I had learnt a bit more.  And maybe it was useful to get my head oriented around the idea of stacks.  However, the Winkler book on Hypertalk is very good.  If you are serious about learning Transcript I cannot recommend that book too highly.  There is a lot of useful information in it.  Ok, it is not Rev-specific -- it can't teach you the IDE etc.  But 99% of what you learn about Hypertalk from that book you can carry over into Rev.  

If you live in the US then you can get a 2nd hand copy from Amazon for next to nothing... BUY IT, while you still can :-)  I'm glad I have a copy - I would often look at it if I'm puzzled by something and most of the time I didn't have to ask for help on the list.  If you have some familiarity with Hypercard, then the Goodman books may be a waste of time for you (I passed mine onto a friend who I introduced to Rev, and they did give her a bit more to work with).

And the Transcript dictionary is very complete, although you are right about the need for more examples, and more tutorials.  There is quite a gap between where the tutorials leave off and being able to find the right element in the dictionary.  BTW, do you know that you can search the documentation?

Also, you can search this list (and the metacard list).  So if you find a language element that you cannot figure out how to use properly, you can search the list for that term (or better, a phrase) and see if there is any discussion of it.  Here's the link: http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:lists.runrev.com
A search on "message box" brought up 706 hits; "custom prop" brought up 51 hits.

(I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I actually spent a lot of time reading the archived lists that go back a few years... There, I've admitted it...

When I have asked for help, I've found this list to have some extremely charming and knowledgable people on it.  It is really quite a cosy place....

Hope that helps,
Bernard