Delete an Array Entry?

[Dave]

Hi All,

> This is the type of thing where threads tend to go south here:
>
> >>> Whoever wrote the documentation didn't understand how Arrays in
> >>> RunRev work.
> >>
> >> That would be hard to believe. Jeanne DeVoto, who wrote most of the
> >> documentation, is one of the foremost documentation experts on
> >> xtalk scripting, starting with HyperCard, where she was one of the
> >> authors of the definitive reference book for that program. She has
> >> been working with the language for 20 years, and I'm certain she
> >> understands how arrays work in Revolution. But if you haven't
> >> worked much with associative arrays, I can see how it could be
> >> confusing.
> >
> > Well he should have known better then!
>
> First, Jeanne is a woman.
>

Just a typing error, didn't meant to imply otherwise.

> Second, that a mistake is made in any product's documentation does not
> necessarily mean the author doesn't understand the concepts involved,
> nor does finding such a mistake mean the author is fair game for  
> insults.
>

There were no insults made and are you 100% sure that Jeanne *did*  
write that particular piece of  documentation?

> I'll be perfectly honest with you: the Rev documentation contains some
> errors and omissions.
>
> And I hope you're sitting down for this next one, as it may shock your
> very core: Nearly all software products (certainly all that I've  
> seen in
> 20+ years) have errors and omissions in their documentation.

Agree, have never said otherwise.

>
> Sorry to have to break it to you, but the sooner you accept the
> complexity of shipping software products, the sooner you'll be able to
> deal with your own customers more effectively when they find errors  
> and
> omissions in your product documentation.  I hope they report them  
> to you
> in a way that doesn't insult your experience, since that would be as
> unnecessary as it is unproductive.
>

I am very effective in dealing with my own customers. If there are  
problems I fix them quickly and don't leave things like this hanging  
around for years. I have never insulted anyone's experience and I  
hope you don't think that I do or have.

> I don't know how many thousands of pages of documentation you've
> written, and I'll admit I've written fewer than 10,000 pages over my
> career thus far.  But through those modest efforts I've come to
> appreciate the difficulty of the task, and -- as with code -- I've  
> come
> to accept that in this imperfect world products will be imperfect.
>

I've no idea how many I have written. At a guess I'd say 10,000 or so  
like yourself. I've been programming since 1978 I think.

> Fortunately with software, unlike cars and space shuttles, we get a
> second chance.  Commercial software is almost always delivered in a
> series of versions, and each new version offers an opportunity to
> address errors and omissions found in the last one.

This hasn't been the case in RunRev, especially in the IDE and  
documentation. I have reported loads of things and none of them have  
been changed or updated in over 3 years. I've now reported this one.  
Anyone care to to bet me some money that it will get fixed any time  
soon?

> So yes, you've found something in the docs which is technically in  
> most
> cases an error.  Good job.  Your diligence is appreciated.

Thank you.

One thing on this list is that when you do mention something like  
this, a few people immediately jump to the defensive as if the person  
doing the mentioning is attacking their baby or kid sister and make  
all kinds of excuses or come up with all kinds of reasons why what  
the mentioner has mentioned is somehow incorrect or point to other  
places in the documentation where what has been mentioned incorrectly  
is mentioned there correctly as if this somehow justifies or makes  
lessens the original problem.

> And now that I've submitted your request for you, and now that you
> understand that Rev's are associative arrays and how associative  
> arrays
> work, may we get back on a productive track to address specifically  
> how
> these arrays are causing a problem in your work?

I understood them perfectly before I looked up "delete". The  
documentation then threw me for a bit since it was incorrect.

> There are a lot of people here who try to be helpful. For example,  
> I've
> shown you twice now how the syntax for working with associative arrays
> in Rev is largely identical to how one might use numeric arrays,  
> and how
> you can use the unrestricted types of keys in associative arrays for a
> broader range of solutions beyond what numeric arrays can support.

I understood that before. My point was that the documentation was  
incorrect and led me to think that the use of a numeric key (17) was  
a special case whereby it turned it back into a normally index type  
array. Which was not the case.

>
> I'm confident that if you can share with us the specific problem  
> you're
> facing with using associative arrays, some of the folks here can help
> you solve that problem.

I do not have a specific problem with arrays in RunRev. The  
documentation threw me is all.

Take Care and All the Best
Dave