Re: A new Scheme tutorial (Jean Abou Samra)

[Peter Toye]

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Saturday, July 23, 2022, 8:56:57 PM, Jean Abou Samra wrote:

> Thanks a lot Peter and others (privately) for your suggestions.
> Sorry for the very late reply, I've been distracted by other
> things. Your comments are most appreciated.

> Le 13/07/2022 à 18:15, Peter Toye a écrit :
> > This looks great! Just what I'd needed a couple of years back when I > was still programming.
> >
> > I've only just started with it, but there are a few niggling comments > about the English version. I've only got to page 2 (getting started) > so far.
> >
> >   * On my browser (Firefox in Windows) the 'v. latest' is too close to
> >     the bottom of the main frame, and I can't click on the
> >     'previous/next/index' without very careful manipulation of the
> >     slider. Can it be moved up a cm or so?
> >

> This is a bit tricky because I don't know how to test it
> locally without uploading on Readthedocs, and I'm bad at
> CSS ...

... so am I.

> >   * On page 1 (Why Scheme?) it's slightly better English to say 'There
> >     is no single implementation of Scheme'
> >   * On page 2 (Getting started) the comment about testing under
> >     Windows is not translated into English! I suggest 'I am unable to
> >     test these commands under Windows. If they do not work, write to
> >     the list.'
> >   * Again on page 2, the commands don't work! You forgot to add the
> >     'lilypond'.
> >     C:\Program Files (x86)\LilyPond\usr\bin>lilypond
> >     scheme-sandbox works fine on my machine.
> >   * On page 2 'Literals' the comment about decimal numbers isn't
> >     translated. I'm not sure about the best translation of 'nombres
> >     décimaux'. Personally I'd use 'floating-point numbers' on the
> >     grounds that all numbers, including integers, are decimal.
> >

> Done.

> >   * The comment 'and a few others' about the characters allowed in
> >     variable names is rather annoying. How does a user know what to
> >     expect if they use a forbidden character? A list would be really
> >     useful.
> >

> Um. The precise rules for valid identifiers are described
> as a formal grammar on pages 12 and 13 of R6RS
> <http://www.r6rs.org/final/r6rs.pdf>
> (see the <identifier> production). I'll try to put
> a list of a few characters that are valid and which
> are useful to know about, like ? and ! because they
> occur regularly at the end of function names (for
> predicates and side-effecting functions), but I'd
> rather not explain the full rules, as they are quite
> complex ...

Ouch! I see what you mean. And this is meant to be simplified? But the problem really is that if a user tries to use an identifier with an illegal syntax, how do they know? This is rather like those really annoying websites which ask you to choose a password, and then tell you that it's illegal without telling you why.

>

 

> Best,
> Jean

All the best,

 

Peter

>
>