Dolphin Smalltalk FAQ?

Now that this group has been about for over a year I was wondering if it
might not be time for it to have it's own FAQ?. Rather than trying to answer
questions about the language itself (which would be a bit of a chore and
probably end up not being updated very often - see the c.l.s FAQ) I was
thinking of a short, monthly, posting giving the basic details.

I've jotted down some possible questions (in no particular order) but there
must be others that I haven't thought of. The answers can come later :)

Comments?

Regards
    Ian


What's the purpose of this newsgroup?

Why can't we just use comp.lang.smalltalk for all dialects?

Can I post binary attachments?

What is the charter for the group?

Where can I obtain Dolphin Smalltalk?

Can I only obtain it online?

What are the differences between Pro/Standard/Value products?

What is the current version?

Where can I find further information?

What other Smalltalk related newsgroups are available?

What is Smalltalk?

How is Dolphin Smalltalk different from other implementations?

Ian Bartholomew <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:TKw38.1371$k91.72469@wards...
> Now that this group has been about for over a year I was wondering if it
> might not be time for it to have it's own FAQ?. Rather than trying to
answer
...
> I've jotted down some possible questions (in no particular order) but
there
> must be others that I haven't thought of. The answers can come later :)

Great idea!  Here are some additional suggestions:

What is MVP?

What are common errors in MVP?
    -missing super send
    -different view/presenter name
    -misspelled event name
    -etc..

How do you use ActiveX controls in Dolphin?

How do you create an EXE in Dolphin?

What add-ons are available for Dolphin?

What books are available for Dolphin?

What is the history of Dolphin?

What kind of projects do people use Dolphin for?

Chris,

Thanks for the suggestions.

> What is MVP?
> What add-ons are available for Dolphin?
> What kind of projects do people use Dolphin for?
> What is the history of Dolphin?

Good ones, I'll add those to the list.

> What books are available for Dolphin?

I was going to include that in the "further information" question as,
currently, the answer would look a bit thin. Maybe a "What (good) books are
available for Smalltalk?" question would be better?

> How do you use ActiveX controls in Dolphin?
> How do you create an EXE in Dolphin?

I think these might be better as "Can you" questions. See below for
reasoning

> What are common errors in MVP?
>     -missing super send
>     -different view/presenter name
>     -misspelled event name
>     -etc..

I think this, and the "How do you" questions above, might be getting a bit
too technical for what I had in mind. IMHO, those sort of questions are best
answered with a page on the WIKI where they can be edited/expanded, although
a separate "Technical FAQ" might be a possibility.

Regards
    Ian

Frank,

> Great! Please put this list on the Wiki at ObjectArts!

I don't think it's quite what you meant ;-) but once we have got a
reasonable list of questions I was going to create a WIKI page to generate
the answers to the questions.

My idea was that anyone could enter/edit answers and, after a couple of
weeks, the results could be tidied up and converted into a suitable format
for the newsgroup FAQ.

I think it's the sort of thing that really could use input from the group as
a whole and the WIKI seems the best way to do it - although a temporary
mailing list for interested parties might be a better alternative?

Regards
    Ian

Ian Bartholomew <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:xFH38.1891$ZO2.95999@stones...
...
> I was going to include that in the "further information" question as,
> currently, the answer would look a bit thin. Maybe a "What (good) books
are
> available for Smalltalk?" question would be better?

That sounds good.  I have been asked quite a bit about Dolphin books, so it
is nice to finally be able to refer people to THE Dolphin book.

...
> > What are common errors in MVP?
> >     -missing super send
> >     -different view/presenter name
> >     -misspelled event name
> >     -etc..
>
> I think this, and the "How do you" questions above, might be getting a bit
> too technical for what I had in mind. IMHO, those sort of questions are
best
> answered with a page on the WIKI where they can be edited/expanded,
although
> a separate "Technical FAQ" might be a possibility.

Yes, you are quite right.  We should probably avoid turning the FAQ into its
own book. ;)

Chris

I would like to see a series of questions dealing strictly with view
components, for example
  how do you make buttons that are toggle (appear as either on, or off).
  Samples of creating screens programatically
  How to do proportional resizing for the subscreens
  toolbar samples

--Gary

"Ian Bartholomew" <[hidden email]> wrote in message
news:xFH38.1891$ZO2.95999@stones... are best
> answered with a page on the WIKI where they can be edited/expanded,
although
> a separate "Technical FAQ" might be a possibility.
>
> Regards
>     Ian
>
>

Gary,

> I would like to see a series of questions dealing strictly with view
> components, for example
>   how do you make buttons that are toggle (appear as either on, or off).
>   Samples of creating screens programatically
>   How to do proportional resizing for the subscreens
>   toolbar samples

As I mentioned to Chris I think those sort of questions are a little too
technical for the sort of FAQ I had in mind. I would have thought that a
series of WIKI pages, that could be added to by anyone who wanted to
contribute insights, would be a better medium.  These subjects also come up
as questions in the newsgroup so if you want some guidance on any of them
then a trawl through the archive might help

Regards
    Ian