Documentation and Parental Cruelty

[Richmond Mathewson]

Eric Chatonet wrote:

"Fortunately, you have a father able to help you"

As little as possible:

What I like about the whole x-Talk family of RADs is
that new users can get-up-and-running with little or
no external help. 

If one spoon-feeds a child information one ends up
with a parrot whose natural creativity has been
stifled.

So:

1. Started off Andro with a calculator - no reference
to the Documentation.

1.5. Moving buttons and random numbers.

2. The "corny" movie-player (playback speed, pause,
play backwards, etc.): everytime Andro asks a question
I have said "look in the Documentation".

Now, while part of this is out of my innate sadism;
another part is because I am extremely curious how a
child with no programming experience will interact
with the help-system. His blanket comment: that the
help system is crap: is next to useless itself. I am
now trying to get him to explain exactly what his
problems are with it - that might prove useful.

3. revSpeak and user-feedback: completely relying on
documentation.

sincerely, Richmond Mathewson


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