New user just introducing myself...

[Richard Gaskin]

Todd Higgins wrote:
 > Like Len Morgan (another Revolution beginner on the list - Hi Len)
 > I am having a hard time grokking Revolution.  It seems like most
 > people who come to Revolution have had previous experience with
 > Hypercard

Personally, I feel that absolutely must change for Rev to become truly 
popular.  HyperCard's been dead for years, and most of its fans have 
already found Rev or something else that floats their boat.  We can't 
rely on the handful of people still walking the decks of that sunken 
ship forever.  So you're the IDEAL guinea pig.  Welcome. :)

I hope you'll post every question that comes into your mind, as much as 
you feel like typing.  There are a lot of newcomers here who are less 
vocal, so don't be worried that it won't interest folks here.  Just 
about everything interests folks here.

Not only are posts from someone like you valuable to the hundreds here 
in your position, but they are enormously valuable to those of us who do 
training and to RunRev themselves, as they serve to help us see the 
product through eyes we no longer have:  new eyes seeing it for the 
first time.


 > When I was evaluating Revolution previously, I remember seeing
 > a tutorial section under help.  I couldn't seem to find it in
 > the 2.5 version, so I just ordered Dan's book : )

Somehow the "Getting Started" stuff fell out of v2.5 -- not sure how 
that happened, but I'm sure they're rushing an update which will restore 
that critical missing element.

But in the meantime you're in the minority who likes reading manuals so 
you're already off to a powerful start. :)

 > What other good habits would I do well to develop?

Whenever I learn a new language I read the Language Guide cover to 
cover.  Well, that's a lie -- what I really do is skim it. But even just 
skimming will give you the lay of the land, and you'd be surprised how 
much you'll retain from that.  Like most things, it's often less 
important to know everything than to just know where to find out about 
everything.  A skim through the Language Guide will imprint things in 
your mind which will help you hunt down the details when you need them 
later.  It'll also spark ideas, as you come across thing you hadn't 
thought about before and go, "Wow, that's pretty cool."



Andre Garzia wrote:
 > The four things I think no xTalker should ever live without are:
 > * the altToolbar plugins.
 > * the devolution toolkit by Richard from Fourth World
 > * The revNET plugin. Also by Fourth World
 > * the PrefsBuilder plugin by Frederic Rinaldi

All good stuff and worth using.  But speaking for my stuff:

- revNet is already pre-installed;
   see Development->Plugins->GoRevNet

- devolution can be useful, but I would encourage you to work with
   the native IDE first before getting too loaded down with extras.
   You'll appreciate the extras more that way, and there's enough
   in the Rev IDE that I'm always concerned about overwhelming
   someone.  devolution is free to use so you can always pick
   it up any time when you get the urge to explore.


Having done a lot of "Transcript as a second language" training over the 
years, I've found the learning curve often follows this pattern:

    Day one:  "What the hell is going on?  Why doesn't anything work
               like I expect?  I hate this damn thing."

    Two days: "Omigawd, the potential is incredible! If only I knew
               how to use it all..."

    Two weeks: "After reading the language guide and trying some
                things out, I'm able to do truly productive work."

    One month: "Now I can do productive work efficiently."

    Three months: "With the flexibility of the language and the handy
               tools in Revolution, I'm seeing slightly greater
               productivity than in my formerly-favorite tool I'd
               used for years."

    Six months: "I love this thing."

    One year:   "I love this thing like no other."


I look forward to reading another few dozens posts from you. :)

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  __________________________________________________
  Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev