I didn't ask them that, but I did provide the link to PBE. It was up to them to learn any way they wish.
You can't mandate people to read PBE. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. PBE is not a good resource if you want to look up classes that you need for your application. Just as you guys provide a quick reference for Pharo syntax, you should provide a quick reference for the class library, too. That would definitely ease the learning curve. All programming languages rely on a "standard library" (in our case, a standard class library). No self-respecting language would lack a standard library reference, whether we're talking about C, C++, C#, Java, Python, etc. Even GNU Smalltalk understood this. <https://www.gnu.org/software/smalltalk/manual-base/gst-base.html> Richard O'Keefe wrote > I am a little confused here. I originally learned Smalltalk from the > coloured books and > then Inside Smalltalk. When I got the chance to use Squeak, pretty > much everything > from those books carried over well enough for me to hit the ground > running. There are > lots of free e-books about Smalltalk, not least Pharo By Example. Had > these people > who were polled read PBE? > > On Thu, 26 Mar 2020 at 04:49, horrido < > horrido.hobbies@ > > wrote: >> >> This is what I provided the JRMPC participants: https://jrmpc.ca/ (see >> "How >> to learn Smalltalk programming"). I'm not sure how I could've done >> better, >> though. >> >> You make an excellent point about duplication and keeping documentation >> up-to-date. However, there has to be some middle ground that makes it >> easier >> and more convenient for new developers to find the tools they need. >> Perhaps >> a synoptical reference showing the more common classes used, such as >> collections, web-related classes, time-related classes, exception and >> error >> classes, file system-related classes, process-related classes, and so on. >> These classes ought not to change much, if at all. >> >> >> >> Tim Mackinnon wrote >> > Or we teach people to fish…? What’s the point of duplicating everything >> > that’s already in the image anyway - we just need to be cleverer or >> ensure >> > that people know to look there and have the right onboarding experience >> to >> > do that? Otherwise its just another thing that gets out of date very >> > rapidly and we already have enough problems with that. >> > >> > I’d be interested in what intro material Richard gave the students to >> > start with (after all - he has quite a few tutorials of his own, some >> of >> > which I had followed - but I suspect they are out of date now >> themselves). >> > When you launch pharo there is the helpful welcome screen - did the >> > student’s actually use it and follow what it says? >> > >> > And did we see any of them in this forum (or was that against the >> rules?) >> > >> > Tim >> > >> >> On 24 Mar 2020, at 17:28, Ben Coman < >> >> > btc@ >> >> > > wrote: >> >> >> >> Pharo has some good documentation, but its more lesson-based than a >> >> library reference. >> >> Those of us familiar with Pharo know the tricks to use the system >> itself >> >> as that reference, but I'd imagine this is an unfamiliar workflow for >> >> newcomers. >> >> >> >> I have seen before a class library reference generated from the image, >> >> but I couldn't put my hands on it right now. >> >> @all, is it still being generated?. This might provide newcomers >> >> something more familiar to work with. >> >> >> >> cheers -ben >> >> >> >> On Tue, 24 Mar 2020 at 03:00, Richard Kenneth Eng < >> >> > horrido.hobbies@ >> >> > <mailto: >> >> > horrido.hobbies@ >> >> > >> wrote: >> >> https://jrmpc.ca/2020/03/20/what-makes-learning-smalltalk-challenging/ >> >> >> <https://jrmpc.ca/2020/03/20/what-makes-learning-smalltalk-challenging/> >> >> >> >> FWIW, 95% of respondents pointed to the lack of reference >> documentation >> >> for the class library as the major obstacle to learning >> Smalltalk/Pharo. >> >> >> >> Richard >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html >> -- Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html
