Two questions about trev

[Jerry Daniels]

Mark, et al.,

I do think that there is a conceptual model of what a script is: a  
single body of text. Inserting folders into the code REALLY slows down  
rendering. We have links in our code now, I found embedded folder  
images made script rendering slow. Super slow.

Furthermore, the nature of the script that i think is antithetical is  
the flexibility of rev talk. How many ways can you write if-then- 
else's? Lots. I've actually tried and used folders in rev scripts and  
it wasn't as rewarding as I would have thought.

HOWEVER...

I've often thought it would be cool to make scripts into collections  
of handlers, with each handler as a component of a script. I made a  
script editor were the script was a group of handlers. Literally a  
group as in the object "group." THAT was interesting. And that  
interests me. Each handler as it's own record. The ability to share  
handlers, reuse handlers, etc. comes into play. But that also removes  
the prose nature of a natural language. Would declarations follow a  
handler? Dependencies on other handlers? Comments belonging to handlers.

What I always find myself bumping up against is the nature of the  
language. Will my model go with or against that nature? Watch Bill  
Atkinson talk about HyperCard and HyperTalk in some of the old video.  
It's fascinating. His perception of the nature of HyperCard and  
HyperTalk are very simple.

In the end, I tend to go back to Bill's models, as they are also now  
the most modern outlook on app building: small and simple. Therefore,  
I tend to NOT complexify scripting any more than I have to. And  
folding seems like rubbing a cat's fur the wrong way to me, given all  
the different ways I've looked at it thus far.

Best,

Jerry Daniels
Watch tRev - The Movie
http://reveditor.com/trev-the-movie

On Sep 14, 2009, at 9:37 AM, Mark Wieder wrote:

> Jerry-
>
> Monday, September 14, 2009, 6:54:29 AM, you wrote:
>
>> I did a tree view of the code that worked on handlers and other
>> control structures. It just didn't hold up very well when scripts got
>> sizable. Also, dealing with the many variations of if-then-else was
>> not pleasant. I've still got code stubs in tRev to do folding,
>> actually, but I tend to think it is a case of rubbing revolution's  
>> fur
>> the wrong way. I've come to think it's not an ideal fit for the  
>> nature
>> of the language or the text editing nature of the editing environs.
>
> Not sure that I completely agree here, at least with the "nature of
> the language" part. Obviously you don't want to mess with the script
> itselfe, but for long handlers (come on, we've all got them) it's
> often hard to find the matching "end if" statement for an "if",
> especially if they're nested three or four levels deep. Folding is a
> way to indicate that, but there are other visual indicators that work
> as well: option-click or something on the start of a conditional to
> highlight the end statement, etc.
>
> -- 
> -Mark Wieder
> mwieder at ahsoftware.net
>
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