Re: Lua Tutor List

[Steve Litt <slitt@...>]

On Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:06:46 -0800
marbux <marbux@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 11:15 PM, Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > Absolutely. Humble newbie begging for help will (for the first
> > two or three posts anyway) get plenty of sympathetic explaining.
> > Tedious newbie posting an umpteenth elementary query will
> > get RTFM, which is what needed. Arrogant newbie full of
> > contempt for the stupid way Lua does things will get flamed.
> 
> Re: RTFM. Judging by the frequency of posts that are actually answered
> by pointers to the Manual, I'll hazard a guess that the Manual's
> quality is pretty good for experienced programmers. But as a
> near-novice programmer when I took the Lua plunge, I've often wished
> there were another version on a wiki that would enable annotation
> with, e.g., links to relevant tutorials (including some of the great
> tutorials for beginners on a few of the game sites), list threads,
> more code examples. A glossary of terms used that are likely to be
> unfamiliar to beginners would also have made learning Lua a lot less
> painful.

That's true. Also, there should be A LOT more block diagrams showing
how components relate.

But there's something else to consider. There's a certain class of web
denizens who just *love* to shout RTFM every chance they get. They're
crotchety old men. There's one on the Claws-Mail list who replies to my
every question with "RTFM". Never mind Claws has crappy documentation
scattered all over the place. Never mind that Claws has some of the
most surprising behavior one could imagine. Never mind that sometimes
the docs don't even address my question. This guy answers almost every
question with a URL, often a jumpsite with nothing but more URLs.

We all agree that due diligence and research is necessary for the
proper functioning of the community. But certain people take it way too
far.

SteveT