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Re: Ideas for a Guile tutorial to go with the new site
From: |
Alex Sassmannshausen |
Subject: |
Re: Ideas for a Guile tutorial to go with the new site |
Date: |
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 11:35:12 +0100 |
User-agent: |
mu4e 0.9.13; emacs 24.5.1 |
Hi Chris,
Christopher Allan Webber writes:
> Christopher Allan Webber writes:
>
>> Hello!
>>
>> So I've been thinking a bit about what a friendly "intro" tutorial would
>> look like that could fit with the direction the site is heading. I came
>> up with some ideas I wanted to capture before I totally lost them.
>
> Well I started implementing this.
>
> Here's the code:
> https://notabug.org/cwebber/guile-tutorial
>
> It's using the excellent Skribilo. (I had *no idea* just how excellent until
> I started this... amazing stuff!)
Indeed, that looks pretty neat!
> So:
>
>> I think we can keep with the kids playing with robot toys idea and
>> stretch that a bit. Here's a brief outline:
>>
>> - Intro
>> - Getting up and running
>> (picture of one of those robots with a wind-up-toy-key on its back?)
>> + How to start guile from the command line, add readline support
>> + Editor setup, simple
>>
>> Details how to write some scheme with any editor, maybe makes a
>> free software editor recommendation of something simple that's not
>> too hard to get going with Scheme. Would GEdit work?
>>
>> Shows how to write a file and then import it at the REPL,
>> then reload it as you add things.
>>
>> Teaches the basic idea of writing code in a file + playing at the REPL.
>>
>> + Editor setup, advanced: Emacs + Geiser
>>
>> Explains that this is the advanced, but recommended version.
>> It takes some time to get started with if you are not already an
>> emacs user, but you may want to come back to it later. Explains
>> how to set things up.
>
> I've gotten this far. The rest of the stuff below still needs to be
> done.
That's looking pretty good. Personally I'm not sure about the
positioning of the bit about text editors — it feels like it is a little
tangential to getting Guile up and running. It feels like perhaps it
should be mentioned later (e.g. when you actually mention storing stuff
in a .scm file?
(also, it kind of acts as a mental barrier to just firing up Guile and
having a go — which is, I think, the playful feeling you want to instil
in your readership?)
> I'm still interested in mixing this with sirgazil/Lusis's drawings if he
> is.
I think that would be great!
> I haven't gotten into the fun part of the tutorial yet, but I'm kind of
> optimistic. The remaining parts are below. What do people think, is
> this worth spending the time on? And might we want to put it on the
> Guile website officially at some point...?
>
>> - First steps
>>
>> Much like The Little Schemer uses food as variable names, I think
>> it's a good idea to stick with abstract fun concepts. Here, I think
>> it would be great to continue along with the "Guile is a playground,
>> come play!" idea by using toys as variable names, and defining
>> procedures that evoke nostalgia for older programmers and sound
>> playful for younger ones.
>>
>> Some ideas:
>> + could use building lists as putting toys in and out of a toy
>> chest
>>
>> (define toy-chest '(robot teddy-bear doll-with-comb toy-soldier))
>>
>> + could have a simple-bake-oven set of procedures that takes
>> arguments like flavor and dessert-type:
>>
>> #> (define (simple-bake-oven flavor dessert-type)
>> (format #f "Yum! You made a tasty ~a flavored ~a!"
>> flavor dessert-type))
>> #> (simple-bake-oven "banana" "cake")
>> $20 = "Yum! You made a tasty banana flavored cake!"
>>
>> and then we can increase the advanced features a bit:
>>
>> #> (define* (fancy-bake-oven flavor dessert-type
>> #:optional topping)
>> (if topping
>> (format #f "Yum! You made a tasty ~a flavored ~a covered
>> in ~a!"
>> flavor dessert-type topping)
>> (format #f "Yum! You made a tasty ~a flavored ~a!"
>> flavor dessert-type)))
>> #> (fancy-bake-oven "mint" "ice cream" "chocolate fudge")
>> $21 = "Yum! You made a tasty mint flavored ice cream covered in
>> chocolate fudge!"
>>
>> Yes... the fancy bake oven version is so fancy it can even bake
>> ice cream! ;)
>>
>> + Introduce modules as extensions for our robots.
>>
>> I'm sure there are other things! But I think a tutorial in this style
>> might be fun, and would fit the site well. And the desire for a good
>> tutorial has been expressed many times.
>>
>> What do others think?
I definitely still think this is a really cool way to go. I'd probably
think that you'll want to walk a fine line between playfulness and over
the top childishness — and that line will be different for different
people I guess! 8-|
But I think it's a cool initiative, that would have really helped me if
it had been available on the Guile website when I first started learning
Guile.
As an aside, what's the best way to pass you "editorial" feedback (typos
and such) — as git patches or as inline corrections?
HTH,
Alex