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Explaining the Editor in the Simplest Terms

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg37042] Explaining the Editor in the Simplest Terms
• From: Steven <hattons at speakeasy.net>
• Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 05:24:39 -0400 (EDT)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I feel as if I've finally had the breakthrough in intuitively understanding  
the Mathematica editor, or at least the basics.  I want to explain to 
others what they really need to know about the editor to use it for basic 
purposes.  Part of the reason I now understand the editor better is that 
I've since worked with LyX http://www.devel.lyx.org and XEmacs 
http://www.xemacs.org, and I've also become proficient with DocBook XML.

When I first started using the editor, reading the Mathematica Help didn't 
seem to help. It seemed to tell me a whole lot more than I needed to know, 
and didn't tell me what I really needed to know.  Now I'm in the position 
of being able to use it, but not being able to explain exactly what it is 
I've learned.  Is there any documentation directed toward the beginner, 
which tells him or her what to do, what to expect, what quirks to be aware 
of, and etc.? I'm looking for something along the lines of "click here to 
make this happen.  If you see this, it may seem weird, but that's normal. 
Those brackedt on the left really mean... ." 

STH