Re: Augmenting Mathematica documentation - a serious proposal
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg115309] Re: Augmenting Mathematica documentation - a serious proposal
- From: telefunkenvf14 <rgorka at gmail.com>
- Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 04:09:42 -0500 (EST)
- References: <ifmru5$pha$1@smc.vnet.net> <ifpk99$bso$1@smc.vnet.net>
On Jan 6, 1:01 am, David Bailey <d... at removedbailey.co.uk> wrote: > On 04/01/2011 09:21, telefunkenvf14 wrote: > > > > > Now I'm intrigued... Can we make a wiki version?!? (Guessing WRI would > > not be happy with this---umm...copy rights?) > > > -RG > > I think a set of extra information about Mathematica functions would be > a really valuable resource, and could include contributions from many > people. Copyright needn't be an issue if we did it by programmatically, > inserting a big "MORE INFORMATION" dropdown box at the start of a > standard documentation notebook. > > This could all-but eliminate a whole range of problems that beginner > users encounter, such as > > arr=expr//MatrixForm > > The dropdown would supply a choice of links to websites that contained > additional information for that particular function. Contributors would > have to supply their web address to a central list, which would then be > used by the installation program. > > I would be willing to set this up if enough people show interest (and > WRI don't raise serious objections :) ). > > David Baileyhttp://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk Other (less thought-out) ideas: 1. "Gotcha" tags and workarounds. 2. less 'elegant' examples---Having recently gone through *most* of the learning curve, it amazes me how many examples are needlessly confusing because functional programming tricks are employed. Not saying the examples should be changed, eventually such a presentation is helpful, but the same example "coded for beginners" would be helpful in many instances. (David's postfix notation example is spot on.) 3. A way to bookmark scraps of code in the documentation that are especially interesting. (Storing/tracking such examples is a messy. And I don't need additional distractions!) Alas, probably stretching beyond the scope of such a project... 4. Examples for specific disciplines. I like the way the documentation is straightforward and somewhat sparse---but sometimes I need my hand held a little to understand areas of math and computer science I have no background in. (this is a huge deal to me; Mathematica has been a wonderful self-learning tool, one that could be even better with the right examples.) 5. What about parsing in hyperlinks to external materials, rather than yet another drop-down section? I guess this is similar to what I said in (1). -RG