Etoys documentation TOC

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Etoys documentation TOC

Rita Freudenberg
Hi all,

as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So let's
start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS Manuals. It
is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing manuals and books.
To get started we should have a TOC outline. Here are my suggestions:

1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and start
etoys on different operating systems)
3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue, flaps)

What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later add
main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for
TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look like:
http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart

What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it to
Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start writing:)

Greetings,
Rita

--
Rita Freudenberg
FIN-ISG
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
http://isgwww.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/isg/rita.html

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Re: Etoys documentation TOC

Timothy Falconer-3
On Sep 3, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Rita Freudenberg wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So  
> let's start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS  
> Manuals. It is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing  
> manuals and books. To get started we should have a TOC outline. Here  
> are my suggestions:
>
> 1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and  
> start etoys on different operating systems)
> 3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
> 4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
> 5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue,  
> flaps)
>
> What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later  
> add main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for  
> TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look  
> like:
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart
>
> What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it to  
> Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start writing:)

It's a good list.  So this would be more of a reference manual than a  
getting started guide?  (with tutorials)

We could link back to the Etoys unit of the courseware for the gentler  
intro.

Tim
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Re: Etoys documentation TOC

Timothy Falconer-3
In reply to this post by Rita Freudenberg

On Sep 3, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Rita Freudenberg wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So  
> let's start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS  
> Manuals. It is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing  
> manuals and books. To get started we should have a TOC outline. Here  
> are my suggestions:
>
> 1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and  
> start etoys on different operating systems)
> 3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
> 4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
> 5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue,  
> flaps)
>
> What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later  
> add main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for  
> TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look  
> like:
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart
>
> What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it to  
> Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start writing:)


Also, just want to highlight that we actually do have some  
documentation (with even a big PDF):

http://squeakland.org/tutorials/guides/

Kathleen's work is concise and useful, and should be used where  
possible in the FLOSS version.

Tim
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Re: Etoys documentation TOC

Bert Freudenberg
In reply to this post by Timothy Falconer-3

On 03.09.2009, at 13:23, Timothy Falconer wrote:

> On Sep 3, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Rita Freudenberg wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So  
>> let's start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS  
>> Manuals. It is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing  
>> manuals and books. To get started we should have a TOC outline.  
>> Here are my suggestions:
>>
>> 1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
>> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and  
>> start etoys on different operating systems)
>> 3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
>> 4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
>> 5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue,  
>> flaps)
>>
>> What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later  
>> add main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for  
>> TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look  
>> like:
>> http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart
>>
>> What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it  
>> to Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start  
>> writing:)
>
> It's a good list.  So this would be more of a reference manual than  
> a getting started guide?  (with tutorials)


IMHO that would be much harder to write than a reference manual. It's  
still desperately needed of course but we should start simple.

The reference manual also serves another purpose: it defines the  
boundary of what we consider officially supported, and what not. As  
you know there is much more in Etoys than is easily accessible on the  
surface. If it's documented, we try hard support it. If not, you may  
still use it but can't rely on to work in future versions.

- Bert -

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Re: [etoys-dev] Etoys documentation TOC

K. K. Subramaniam
In reply to this post by Rita Freudenberg
On Thursday 03 Sep 2009 4:31:55 pm Rita Freudenberg wrote:
> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and start
> etoys on different operating systems)
IMHO, we should separate technical reference from learner's reference.
Installation is something that is done once while learning happens all the
time.

Existing guides (e.g. Powerful Ideas, help) use a prescriptive style (press
this, do this etc.). Many beginners get into a mechanical action mode. IMHO,
children (and teachers) need a conceptual style that helps them transition
from real world to digital world. A lesson I learnt the hard way :-(.

Nowadays I introduce Etoys as a kit containing thousands of 'tiny powerful
automatic computers'. They have a button panel (halo buttons) and keyboard
(for text entry) but no 'form'. We paint a shape or stick a graphic label to
recognise and manipulate them. These computers can memorize stuff and follow
instructions but they have no will or consciousness of their own. So we have
to "think" for them and give them right instructions. We can also get two or
more "computers" to work together  as a team ("pick up your heading from
wheel's heading", align next to, move towards etc). Such a team of computers
can be used to tell a story ("water cycle"), calculate magnitudes ("if I walk
10 units north and then 10 units east, how far am I from the starting point?")
or model things around us ("seeds on a sunflower") to discover patterns.

I hope I am too off the mark here. Originally, the term "computer" referred to
a smart person who did calculations. Later, electronic machines were designed
to mimic their operations and these were dubbed "automatic computers".

Subbu
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Re: [etoys-dev] Etoys documentation TOC

Karl Ramberg
In reply to this post by Rita Freudenberg
On 2009-09-03 13:01, Rita Freudenberg wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So let's
> start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS Manuals.
> It is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing manuals and
> books. To get started we should have a TOC outline. Here are my
> suggestions:
>
> 1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and start
> etoys on different operating systems)
> 3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
> 4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
> 5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue, flaps)
>
> What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later
> add main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for
> TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look like:
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart
>
> What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it to
> Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start writing:)
>
> Greetings,
> Rita
>
Oh, and I made the UpdatingScreenshotMorph:
http://tracker.immuexa.com/browse/SQ-96
The nice thing with it is that if you take a UpdatingScreenShot of a
script for example and add in your BookMorph or text
you don't have to make a new screenshot if you change the script or
language because it updates :-)
So if we keep the documentation internal in Squeak as long as possible
this could maybe be helpful.

Karl







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Re: Etoys documentation TOC

Rita Freudenberg
In reply to this post by Timothy Falconer-3
Timothy Falconer wrote:

> On Sep 3, 2009, at 7:23 AM, Timothy Falconer wrote:
>
>> On Sep 3, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Rita Freudenberg wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> as you all know we don't really have an Etoys documentation. So
>>> let's start writing it. As I wrote earlier I propose to use FLOSS
>>> Manuals. It is used by the olpc and sugar community for writing
>>> manuals and books. To get started we should have a TOC outline. Here
>>> are my suggestions:
>>>
>>> 1. Introduction (short description what etoys is about)
>>> 2. Getting started (technical description on how to install and
>>> start etoys on different operating systems)
>>> 3. User Interface (painting tools, halo, viewer ...)
>>> 4. Tiles (describing every available tile)
>>> 5. Objects (everything from the supplies bin and object catalogue,
>>> flaps)
>>>
>>> What am I missing? Of course we can have subchapters and also later
>>> add main chapters if we find out we need it. Here is the manual for
>>> TurtleArt so you can get the idea what our documentation could look
>>> like:
>>> http://en.flossmanuals.net/turtleart
>>>
>>> What do you think? If we come up with a TOC outline I can send it to
>>> Anne Gentle from FLOSS manuals to set it up and we can start writing:)
>>
>> It's a good list.  So this would be more of a reference manual than a
>> getting started guide?  (with tutorials)
Yes, a reference manual is what I had in mind. I'm sorry for not making
that clear.

>>
>> We could link back to the Etoys unit of the courseware for the
>> gentler intro.
>
> Also, just want to highlight that we actually do have some
> documentation (with even a big PDF):
>
> http://squeakland.org/tutorials/guides/
>
> Kathleen's work is concise and useful, and should be used where
> possible in the FLOSS version.
Definitely, I will not have the same things written again, but collect
it at one place. And since it is  a reference manual, it will be shorter
than other materials, but complete. As Bert pointed out "it defines the
boundary of what we consider officially supported, and what not."

Rita
>
> Tim


--
Rita Freudenberg
FIN-ISG
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
http://isgwww.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/isg/rita.html

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