[OFF] Input/Info Requested

[Marielle Lange]

Hi Joe,

> A few weeks back I broached that very issue. Or, maybe, even more  
> ambitiously, about the total scope of available resources for RunRev.

Can you point me to this post... I am afraid, I don't find the time  
to read each single post on this list.

> It had become pretty obvious to me that there are just tons and  
> tons of materials, suggestions, approaches, et. out there, but the  
> newbie to Rev has got to be bewildered.

I do my best to provide such a list at:
<http://revolution.widged.com/wiki/tiki-index.php? 
page=RevolutionWebsites>
<http://revolution.widged.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=TutorialsExample>
<http://revolution.widged.com/wiki/tiki-index.php? 
page=RevolutionSnippetStacks>

there is dmoz directory, where persons can add mention of their website
<http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/Transcript/>
Richard has a similar list:
<http://www.fourthworld.com/rev/links.html>

And oh, as pointed by mblackman on the forums:
"There is a good list of sites in the documentation but it doesn't  
pop out at you.
Go to documentation, click on the Search button at the right hand  
side, in the window that pops up click on 'web database' which pops  
up a menu, choose 'Go to' and presto there's a list. Maybe they  
should make this easier to find !"

Then the problem I experienced is that if a link gets outdated, they  
don't get changed. I signaled that the lexicall.org link was not  
valid a while ago (replaced by widged.com about a year ago). I was  
told that the change would take place in the next version. The next  
version comes. No change.

I don't mind the place where this information appears being  
revolution. What I do mind however is that this is a place where  
information can be kept up to date, with the responsibility for this  
being shared by various persons rather than it being a single person  
effort.

> When I was working heavily with FutureBasic, I was pushing for the  
> design of a few really good templates to be used by newbies of FB a  
> starting point. We even did a few; and, except for its Mac only  
> capabilities, FB is the best, fastest and easiest there is. Lots of  
> it are in assembly language, and like this list, the FB lists are  
> impressive, though not as "hurried".

You see, the big problem is that I am about to reply to this post on  
the forums <http://forums.runrev.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=650>
"Help! I've built an application in Enterprise (2.7.1 build 236)  
booting up in OSX on an external drive - everything is fine,  
including the custom Image Library I created to hold about thirty  
icons used by my application's buttons. "

I have already replied to this type of question 3-5 times over the  
past 2 years. That's really a "classical one".

> meaning that an evaluation of the available resource when pursuing  
> a specific type of design, plus a heads up with respect to the  
> potential gotchas, is probably a better approach. Break down the  
> kinds of things that might be attempted by someone, and they  
> outline an approach that they might use to achieve those ends. I  
> don't think there is a lot of new ground that would have to be  
> broken, just guidance as to where to look for an specific  
> challenge; since you can spend a lifetime reading all the stuff  
> that is available, but not really find the things that a person  
> might need at the time. I'm just running off at the mouth, so  
> excuse me. I know you understand, probably far better than I do.

That was expressed far better than I would have been able to ;-).

Various things I was thinking about :

-------------------------
1. Book formats
-------------------------

Wicked cool?

Demo chapter for Wicked java
<http://assets.devx.com/download/17813.pdf>
Wicked cool shell scripts
<http://www.intuitive.com/wicked/>
Wicked cool perl scripts
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/1593270623/>

Phrase Book?

PHP Phrasebook (Sample Chapters)
<http://www.samspublishing.com/articles/article.asp?p=417718&rl=1>

Hacks?

PHP Hacks (Sample Hacks)
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/phphks/chapter/index.html>

-------------------------
2. Design Patterns
-------------------------

Design Patterns / Interface Design?

Ajax Design Patterns (Sample chapter, pdf)
<http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ajaxdp/chapter/ch10.pdf>

Designing Interfaces
<http://designinginterfaces.com/>

-----------------------------
3. Benchmarking data
-----------------------------

See this forum post by Richard,
<http://forums.runrev.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=571&start=15>
as an excellent example.

> I'm actually having to take an hiatus from my column on Revolution  
> there; perhaps for as long as a couple of months.

That's the same for me. I can contribute time and effort. However, I  
cannot do that continuously over a year period. Hence the idea of  
going for a structure which allows for different persons to take  
responsibility for this.

> With FB, I tried to recruit a team to work with me on the  
> "template" approach, and got a few takers, but ended up doing most  
> of it myself. I assume it would be the same here, and I don't  
> currently have the free time to take somethng like this on. Much as  
> I would love the challenge.

Well, that has been my experience of open source and community  
initiatives so far. Many persons are interested in benefitting of the  
result of your work. Many persons are enthusiastic at the start. But  
well, with time, you end up being the one paying for the webserver  
and doing all the work yourself ;-).

Of interest. I am having a parallel discussion with Bill Griffin, of  
igames3D. I will take the time to describe the outcome of this  
discussion in more details next week.

We are thinking of creating a website to support persons interested  
in games (serious gaming, advergaming, games for learning). One of  
the idea I have had in that context is to set up some section "rent  
an elearning developer" and "rent an animator". More generally, what  
I am keen on is building bridges so to allow faster and easier access  
to the huge amount of resources that already exist for both teachers  
and learners.

The big problem, however, is the one highlighted above. If I start  
this, I will have plenty of persons very enthusiastic about this and  
encouraging me to go ahead. But in 3-6 months time, I will be mostly  
alone to take care of everything.

I am trying to find ways to secure the participation of persons, to  
give them a reason to contribute (good visibility in some tutorial  
section is good credentials when persons have to decide whether to  
hire you as a developer".

Persons who would be interested in discussing this kind of idea in  
order to get something started that would be sustainable and  
successful are invited to take contact with me.

Rather than go madly on all fronts, I would prefer to select a few  
number of initiatives or to associate with persons who are ready to  
take responsibility for a given sector/area... such that again, we  
avoid the duplication of resources and efforts.

Marielle