Re: Mathematica Documentation
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg38014] Re: Mathematica Documentation
- From: Jens-Peer Kuska <kuska at informatik.uni-leipzig.de>
- Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 00:48:34 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: Universitaet Leipzig
- References: <arsi84$ebu$1@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: kuska at informatik.uni-leipzig.de
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
Hi,
look at the online-help for Graphics[] !
What is listed first ??
"The following graphics primitives can be used:"
....
and
"The following graphics directives can be used:"
What else can be done ? Should the text color red ?
and flashing ?
Regards
Jens
DGolber wrote:
>
> So today I'm doing some graphics. Oh: there are _options_ and _directives_.
>
> So I try to find out what are all the graphics primatives?
>
> When you look in the index of the 1500 page book, or type "Graphics Primatives"
> in the on-line Help, you don't find it. You have to look under Graphics or
> Graphics3D. In the book, it's in the appendix.
>
> And the entry in the appendix is not quite complete:
>
> It says "Graphics[primatives, options] represents a two-dimensional graphical
> image".
>
> It should say "returns a graphis object" The reason is that the appendix is
> the place for the complete and formal description of the functions and all
> their arguments and returns. No longer the place for chatty-teachy.
> ("represents" is chatty-teachy)
>
> To understand the system, I need to be able to trace the sequence
>
> Line[...] is a graphics _primative_
>
> Graphics[ ... graphics primatives ....] is a graphics _object_
>
> Show [... graphics object...] puts a picture on the screen.
>
> I don't know if this sounds dumb on my part, but I do know that I have just
> wasted a bunch of time on this, and that having to go back and forth just to
> find out the type of the return of a function (to use old fashioned
> nomenclature) .... which people knew thirty years ago was part of documenting a
> system .... seems pretty dumb on the part of Mathematica.
>
> Dave Golber