Books on RunRev

[Marty Billingsley]

Jim Hurley says:
>
> I hesitate to enter this discussion. I have so little feel for the market.
>
> However, on a personal level, I think a good book on RunRev is the
> best thing that could happen right now. Certainly the product is
> sufficiently mature that it is truly ready for prime time. It has
> gone far beyond HyperCard in speed of execution, breadth of coverage
> and variety of platforms.
>
> I first became interested in xTalk programming through HC. And I
> doubt that would have happened had it not been for the
> Winkler-Kamins-DeVoto book. I thought it was just brilliant. A
> perfect blend of theory (about a hundred pages) and extensive
> examples. I agree fully with Richard that the best teacher is
> experience. But a good example is experience on-a-stick.
>
> I taught Physics for 30 years, and although I had a passion for the
> theory, I always knew, deep down, that the only way to get through to
> students was through meaningful examples and penetrating homework.
>
> (By the way, my real interest in HC then, and RR now, is in
> education. I think the time will come when programming is taught
> routinely in High School and x-Talk is the ideal vehicle for the High
> School student. There is certainly a book needed there. It would be
> aimed at students interested in science--there are a dozen students
> who pursue a science career for every one that becomes an application
> programmer.  Programming is mostly about algorithms-schemes-and less
> about implementation and so the language chosen for the beginning
> programmer is the one which facilitates though and not one which is
> CPU friendly. But it is very difficult to break through the inertia
> of the entrenched High School curriculum. Trouble is, the teacher who
> might initiate a HS course would be one with a background in
> programming and not in the sciences. As you see I have a real bias
> here. My apologies; I suspect that the majority on this list has
> quite a different bent.)

Not everyone is uninterested in this point of view: I've been using
HC to teach programming to 8th graders for almost ten years now.  I'm
migrating my curriculum over to RR this summer (you'll be hearing a
lot from me as I run into snags :-) and will be using it starting
in the fall.

HC has been a wonderful programming environment for beginners; the
language is very english-like ("add 1 to score"), the interpreter is
fairly forgiving about syntax, you can cut and paste graphics.
RR looks promising, although the user interface is irritatingly complex.
(Haven't figured out, for example, how to look at the scripts for two
different objects at the same time, to compare them side by side.  Grrrr.)

As I rewrite my curriculum I'm thinking of putting together a book, but
it would have a limited market.  It's be a book of complete projects,
each demonstrating one or more of the really basic concepts of programming
(a loop, a global variable, etc.).  Sort of like the old "HyperCard
Projects for Teachers" and "HyperCard Projects for Students" books but
with a little more theory.  Each unit would have complete instructions
for doing the project (i.e., the scripts would be given to the student),
plus some suggestions for further enhancements.  As I say, the market for
this is probably pretty small.

In my HC class I haul out Danny Goodman's book every time a kid has
a question I can't answer off the top of my head (and make the kid
look up the answer -- it's good practice for them). I wish there were
an RR equivalent: a reference book that offers some basic explanation
of how things work and lots and lots of examples.  Anyone want to write
it?  In time for fall '03 :-)

  - marty

--
Marty Billingsley                                 "We are our choices...."
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools                     - Sartre
marty at ucls.uchicago.edu