Can't you meet someone in a barcamp in your city, who would show you the basics? Also did you practice http://pharobyexample.org to learn the tools? On 28 janv. 2011, at 22:08, Helene Bilbo wrote:
Hi, i donât want to see a specific package explained - i would rather like to watch, how someone will make sense of a package she/he doesnât know (and that does not have much comments..) and tries to read and understand it.
I just sit here and try to understand SpectrumAnalyzerMorph - but perhaps this is a bad example, because it is included in Pharo 1.1.1 but doesnât work there. This would be more a debugging show..
What kind of âstrategyâ or âpatternâ do you use to understand a class/package?
Since I am a Moose expert, I don't really know how people do it without visualizations :)
Where do i start reading in the first place?
Read the comments if there are some, especially with snippets of code for do-it. Read the tests, try to find how one instantiate a particular object, then put a self halt in a test or create a new object in a workspace and open an inspector on it; interact with the object to send it messages and see how it reacts (with the class browser by the side of course). Learn the strengths and weaknesses of the various browsers, and especially the shortcuts to quickly launch them (select some text in the source then): alt+b -> browse class alt+m -> browse implementors (method definitions) alt+n -> senders (messages calls) alt+shit+r -> references to class etc.
Do i search messages / try to âfollowâ them using method finder?
So basically yes. Understanding a Smalltalk program is somehow a heuristic process (like all program understanding): browse code, browse implementors or senders until you can not get further or lost track, make hypothesis about how it works and check by browsing again and querying live instances.
I tried to file out classes and print them on paper - which was a bad idea.. Do you take notes? Make drawings? Just read along in the SystemBrowser?
Can you imagine a bit, what i mean? It is really very basic.. Best regards, Helene.
In Smalltalk the language and its syntax are simple, so you get more work to learn the whole API and the tools, especially since they are a bit unconventional. So I can understand that you feel lost. But the best way would be to learn by doing, with somebody while pair-programming.
laurent laffont wrote:
Hi,
indeed I don't really see how to do this sort of screencast .....
Which packages would you like to see explained ?
Laurent
On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 5:04 PM, Helene Bilbo < thereluctantprogrammer@fastmail.fm> wrote:
Hi, i have a proposition for a Pharo-Screencast:
I would love to look over someoneâs shoulder while she/he is *reading* code. A possible plot would be to download something from squeaksource and then trying to make sense out of it - and talking while doing so. (It would also be good to see all the relevant functions of the browser in action).
Background: While i have read some books now (blue book, pharo by example, seaside by example, best practice patterns) i have never actually seen people programming. So i absolutely miss the craftsmanship side of things.
Anyway thank you for Pharocasts. Best regards, Helene. -- View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/Screencast-proposition-Watch-someone-read-code-tp32448... Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
-- View this message in context: http://forum.world.st/Screencast-proposition-Watch-someone-read-code-tp32448... Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
-- Simon Denier