Helping Newbies (was Re: how to get the zero's out of a list)
Helping Newbies (was Re: how to get the zero's out of a list)
- Subject: Helping Newbies (was Re: how to get the zero's out of a list)
- From: Sander Tekelenburg <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 03:49:54 +0100
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At 13:12 -0500 UTC, on 09/03/2001, Cal wrote:
[...]
>
When posting examples, particularly for newbies, be mindful that the
>
person asking the question may not just be interested in a piece of
>
script that they can copy and paste, but may be trying to understand
>
how something works.
Being a Newbie, as in "being new at something", suggests having the mindset
to want to learn and perhaps at some point not be new to it anymore. If all
someone's interested in is a pret a porter script then I wouldn't call him a
"Newbie" ;) More like a leecher. And I hardly ever try to help them.
TANSTAAFL.
(Although of course one can be a Newbie at leeching too :) It can be great
fun feeding them bits and pieces of the puzzle in such a way that they are
forced to attempt to understand it. Often in vain. But sometimes it turns the
leecher into a greedy Newbie. Very gratifying. Another soul saved.)
>
Try to remember what it was like when you were
>
first learning. Taking a few extra seconds to employ variable names
>
that are descriptive, indicating what the variables contain, can go a
>
long way toward making your examples understandable.
Good point. I agree.
However, a point can also be made for showing Newbies nondescriptive variable
names now and then. When I started scripting[*], I was lucky to only see
examples with descriptive variable names. But for me, there was a downside to
that. They were done so well, that at first I mistook them for "some special
Applescript code" - their descriptiveness actually hid the concept of
variables from me.
Again, I agree it's best to feed Newbies descriptive variables. Just wanted
to point out that there's always 2 sides to everything ;)
[*] Not that long ago. I often feel very much a Newbie still
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--
Sander Tekelenburg, <
mailto:email@hidden>
Web site at <
http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>
Mac user: "Macs only have 40 viruses, tops!"
PC user: "SEE! Not even the virus writers support Macs!"