< :the previous in number
^ :the list in numerical order
> :the next in number
P :the previous artilce (have the same parent)
N :the next (in thread)
|<:the top of this thread
>|:the next thread
^ :the parent (reply-to)
_:the child (an article replying to this)
>:the elder article having the same parent
<:the youger article having the same parent
---:split window and show thread lists
| :split window (vertically) and show thread lists
~ :close the thread frame
.:the index
..:the index of indices
Iwan van der Kleyn wrote:
> Nicholas Van Weerdenburg wrote:
>
>> I think that may have been the case a few years ago,
>
>
> Although that may be true, I think that the present state of Ruby's
> documentation is far from ideal. Newbies (like me) do not compare the
> present state of affairs with how it used to be but compare it with
> the availability and quality of documentation with Perl or Python. And
> both languages are far superior in this respect.
>
> Don't get me wrong. I've been busy with Ruby for a few weeks now. I
> like the language and think the implementation is superb. The pickaxe
> book is indeed excellent. On par with Learning Python (with better
> practical examples) and probably a bit better than Learning Perl.
>
> However, the reference documentation is of "irregular" quality at
> best. The soap or socket modules are good examples. They are not
> documented at all. For me these modules are not "less common"...
>
> This is not to troll by the way. If I decide to stick around with Ruby
> I;ll probably do my bit to help. But I do think that it's an issue
> which should be taken seriously.
>
Those are good points, and important ones.
I think there is a serious commitment, and it's taken very seriously.
I've been using Ruby for about six months now, lurking for ten, and
haven't lamented the documentation. But that many be because I haven't
used some of the libraries that suffer from a lack of documentation. I
also collected most of the Ruby books out there, and collected a lot of
sample code.
Also- look for the 1.9 online documentation- my understanding is that
it's had a lot added due to the generosity of the Pickaxe authors and
the team who updated the docs.
I do come from a C/C++/Java background, so it did take some time to
adjust to the new paradigms. But that wasn't due to a lack of documentation.
There also is a lot of effort going on in the area- to the point that
the Ruby community is obsessed with documentation. I think it's a bit
self-concious due to the years without. I expect that this is a good
thing, since it promises more rapid growth in documentation.
Also- look for the 1.9 online documentation- my understanding is that
it's had a lot added due to the generosity of the Pickaxe authors and
the team who updated the docs.
http://www.ruby-doc.org/stdlib/
Also, the sidebar plugin for FireFox is cool:
http://www.ruby-doc.org/docbar/
On that note, I'm still not exactly sure what the difference is between
the latest 1.9 docs and 1.8.1. If someone could give a definitive
clarification, that would be great.
Regards,
Nick