[noob again]static text
Richard Gaskin
ambassador at fourthworld.com
Mon Mar 7 20:23:57 EST 2005
Mikey wrote:
> In the case of a tool like RR, the docs need to be better because the
> paradigm is very different and often it's difficult to match the
> vocabulary, even for people familiar with cousins of it.
I agree. While I feel Rev offers an unusually strong ROI over the long
term, that ROI is the result of an unusual paradigm, requiring special
care in guiding the new user beyond what would be needed for a
non-proprietary language/object model such as C++ or Python.
What languages/tools have you worked with before? Perhaps we can better
tailor responses to where you're coming from.
> Come to think of it, the docs on how to use the docs aren't complete
> either, leaving me with the question of "What would have led me to
> search for what you were searching for to get the answer to the
> question I was rasing?". I'm afraid the answer is "Nothing".
This is a topic of eager interest to me, as I'm working on some
indexing/data mining tools and find the cognitive side of searching
interesting.
With more than 3,000 pages' worth of material I'm fairly confident that
what you need is there. But I agree the search index is weak so finding
things can be difficult.
I came in late here -- could I trouble you to remind me what it was you
were looking for, and what terms you used to find it? That would be
very helpful for the team, who I believe are revising the indexing
scheme as I write this.
In the meantime, here's a tip: What the docs call "FAQ" isn't the sort
of "miscellaneous bin" FAQ you find with most products; with Rev it's
really the topical guide you're looking for. Pretend that "FAQ" is
labeled "User Guide" and you may find what you need more easily, often
without needing to use the search feature at all.
Also, given the very unusual nature of Transcript I can't recommend
stongly enough the value of learning by doing something very small at
first. Getting the lay of the land with a very small task can make
moving on to bigger things much easier.
Earlier you had written:
> Since we're in the mode of trying to decide if we're going to shell
> out for one or several corporate licenses, or put RR in the "wait and
> see" category and continue with the plan to convert our existing
> stacks to other environments, which sort of reduces the future value
> of RR to us, the little things such as this make a difference. It's a
> much more awkward sell.
That would be unfortunate, as I believe that once you get past this
initial orientation you'll be quite happy with the results. But having
worked in a few other languages myself I'm also keenly sensitive to your
position, and have been lobbying for the return of some materials that
were in an earlier version of Help which were aimed at programmers with
different levels of experience with different specific tools.
In lieu of that, for now you have us here on this list. :)
FWIW, after teaching Transcript as a second language for some years now
I've found the following pattern to be fairly consistent with most
newcomers:
Two days into the product: "What the hell is going on? I can't
figure this thing out! Damn, what were they thinking?"
One week: "Wow. I've reviewed the language dictionary and I'm
very intrigued by what's there. If only I could put
all the parts together to make something useful."
Two weeks: "I just finished my first project. It was a bit of
a challenge but I think I'm getting the hang of this."
One month: "Cool. I'm feeling confident with this. I can do
most of what I need, and although I'm still looking
up a lot of terms in the Dictionary I'm beginning to
feel really good about this."
Six months: "I love this thing. I'm at least as productive with
Rev as I had been with the other tool I'd been using
for years, maybe more so."
One year: "I love this thing like no other."
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Media Corporation
___________________________________________________________
Ambassador at FourthWorld.com http://www.FourthWorld.com
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