[DGD] Call for critique: LPC documentation

[John Ruiz]

Noah,

Thank you for putting all of this together - when I want to work on my MUD,
I typically bring up the driver, an editor, and your site as the basic tools
I'll need.  Here's something to think about for your new edition:


Your newest installation seems geared for the very beginner - new to both
DGD and LPC - which is great unless you know your way around and then it
becomes a bit onerous to wade through the verbiage to get to what you're
looking for.

As an alternative, I would suggest using the power inherent in the medium to
achieve both completeness and conciseness.  This could be done through a lot
of URLs over keywords or phrases (a.k.a popup boxes) which a beginner may
need to have defined or explained a little further.  Another technique that
I really like is using javascript to popup a 'tooltip'-like box when you
hover your mouse over keywords and phrases.  This allows a user to have more
control over the density of their documentation.

Of course, there will be times when it is appropriate to have a lengthy
discussion and there will be times when you really need all of the verbiage
no matter who will be looking at the docs - I leave this choice in your very
capable hands.


Finally, this is totally your baby, so if you decide that this just doesn't
sounds like something you want to do, throw it out and don't think twice
about it - I won't complain about useful tools I get to use for free.

Yours,
John


-----Original Message-----
From: dgd-admin at list.imaginary.com [mailto:dgd-admin at list.imaginary.com] On
Behalf Of Noah Gibbs
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2004 12:55 PM
To: dgd at list.imaginary.com
Subject: [DGD] Call for critique: LPC documentation

  I'm working on a rewrite of my LPC textbook.  This will not only make me
the sole author (it's a little inconvenient having a coauthor I've never
met), but more importantly, it gets rid of the old organization and uses a
different one that's working out much better for me so far.

  If you're looking for a tutorial on DGD's LPC or you need to point
somebody at one, please consider "http://phantasmal.sf.net/DGD/Book/html/".
It's new but (in my opinion) quite usable.  While it uses the Kernel Library
for its setup, that's almost entirely to allow easy use of the compile and
code commands. 
When I get a real tutorial on the DGD editor online, that'll also allow the
book to be used for remote lessons, which should be nice.

  The current version is well over a third the length of the old one, and
I'm not even fully through the tutorial chapter.  When and if I get it done,
it should be nicely comprehensive and should correct a lot of my old
mistakes.  However, I'm starting at least one new major project shortly, so
I'm not guaranteeing any particular completion schedule on this.  I imagine
I'll keep writing a little every day and checking it into Phantasmal CVS,
then putting it up on the public web site in big chunks when I feel like it.

  Please note that this is *not* the same URL as the old textbook, and it's
not yet linked from my site. 
This is purely a request for comments to the DGD list folks (and possibly
other LPC forums).  I don't consider this to be publicly released
documentation (yet).



=====
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noah_gibbs at yahoo.com

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