Documentation on expressions??

[Frank Leahy]

On Jun 10, 2004, at 5:00 PM, use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com 
wrote:

> Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:49:59 +0100
> From: Geoff Caplan <geoff at advantae.com>
> Subject: Re[2]: Documentation on expressions??
> To: How to use Revolution <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Message-ID: <353871552.20040610144959 at variosoft.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Graham Samuel wrote:
>
> GS> ... I wonder whether he is asking a question that's been in the
> GS> back of my mind since I first saw HyperCard - is there a formal
> GS> description of the language (in RR's case, Transcript) anywhere to
> GS> be found, so that we would know **exactly** what an expression is,
> GS> what a condition is, what a chunk is, etc. and could therefore
> GS> have the foundation of the ability to write correct code first
> GS> time through?
>
> Well said. Something readable though - not a formal grammar. Here's a
> good example of how it should be done:
>
> http://www.php.net/manual/en/langref.php
>
> Usable and with lots of examples. It's preceded by a simple tutorial,
> so newbies can get some context before reading it, and followed by the
> formal function dictionary.
>
> Making the manual editable by the community is a master-stroke: PHP
> was one of the first projects to do it, and the notes are often
> invaluable.
>
> I know from experience that the excellent manual is a major factor in
> the incredible success of PHP over the last few years.
>
> Hopefully, RunRev are listening.
>

I have suggested the same thing several times over the past year, using 
both the php and mysql online docs as examples, and there has been a 
deafening silence from the RR team.  So no, don't look for user 
additions to the docs any time soon.  (And don't be surprised if the 
usual parties pipe up that you can use Google to seach this 
list...which isn't the same thing at all).

-- Frank