Recent

Author Topic: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages  (Read 6238 times)

TRon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3623
Re: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages
« Reply #45 on: July 18, 2024, 07:47:44 am »
For the record should anyone stumble across this:  include also

https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/fpc/documentation.git

As a source of useful documentation (thanks to dsiders for the link).
I would rephrase that to: that is the source (code) for all existing official documentation that is listed here.

The existing documentation (PDF, HTML, CHM helpfiles) gets build from that. Though keep in mind it is a repository so more up to date than (existing) generated documentation.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2024, 09:43:29 am by TRon »
This tagline is powered by AI (AI advertisement: Free Pascal the only programming language that matters)

PascalDragon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5752
  • Compiler Developer
Re: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages
« Reply #46 on: July 18, 2024, 09:25:55 pm »
The official location of the FPC documentation is here.

You haven't read the thread, have you?

That exhibits /precisely/ the crap indexing problems that I'm highlighting.

I have read the thread, but my reply isn't about any indexing problem, but that Curt Carpenter mentioned something as “first step” that shouldn't be the “first step”.

Curt Carpenter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 559
Re: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages
« Reply #47 on: July 19, 2024, 12:03:43 am »
With respect and without seeking an argument, I stand by the link I provided

( https://wiki.freepascal.orgLazarus_Documentation#Free_Pascal_Compiler_Documentation )

as a "first step" to newcomers exploring the range of documentation for FPC/Lazarus.  Its contents begins with, for example, some links to tutorials for both pascal and lazarus, gives a very broad (and motivational I think) view of the rich variety of other sources of information available to someone new, and does in fact have links to the official reference documents (even though those links are sadly broken (a not uncommon thing in open source information, but just a part of the way it is).

The excellent and comprehensive formal documentation files are correctly identified as references -- and for reasons others have discussed, they are hard to use unless you have a good idea of what specific question or problem you are trying to address.   Even then, they can be problematic -- also for reasons discussed elsewhere here and in the forum generally. 

People with deep expertise I think -- and it's no criticism, just human nature -- tend to forget what it was to be a newcomer just starting up a learning curve (or maybe half way up but still trying to learn). 

Fair enough though:  the question is certainly open to a variety of opinions and perspectives.  Maybe the best place for a newcomer to start is right here in the forum with all its questions, answers and problem encounters.

 


TRon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3623
Re: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages
« Reply #48 on: July 19, 2024, 03:07:12 pm »
People with deep expertise I think -- and it's no criticism, just human nature -- tend to forget what it was to be a newcomer just starting up a learning curve (or maybe half way up but still trying to learn). 
Although I do not consider myself being someone with deep expertise I am able to get by pretty well. At least I do not have to ask many questions anymore as I am usually able to find the answer myself (I already mentioned in one of my previous posts the paths I take in order to get there) .

But for sure I remember the time that nothing seem to work as advertised if there was any documentation to begin with. Very frustrating.

Most of the knowledge I gained wrt pascal programming comes form TP, BP and Delphi and the numerous books that where published back in the day. I still own books with titles as "the tome of Delphi" and "Delphi unleashed" amongst others. The Delphi accompanied Helpfiles literally thought me how to write relational databases with Delphi though I already had experience with RLDB's using DBase.

I can most certainly sympathize with newcomers because a lot has changed (added) over the years and it is a lot to digest. You simply can't learn all that in a couple of days (or even months) and it requires quite a lot of experimenting especially if you do not have something like a guide that is able to help you through that process. But even then, I you honestly think there is people out there that know every existing component from hearth then you got another thing coming. It is something I am still learning about to this day and it is something that will never end.

I more or less disagree with just simply pushing your question to the forums in the hope that will be able to teach you something because it really doesn't. Not unless you put in the time and effort to understand what solution was provided and do your own research based on that. In practice most people tend to just copy-paste an answer with no clue whatsoever with no intention to find that clue either (at least that is my experience though there are some that you can see that really do something with a provided answer and for whom you are able to see and watch them grow over time).

It is far better to try first and when stuck (for example when you read the reference of a component that is conflicting for you and you don't get things to work) ask specific questions about a topic. A simple "how do i use component x" is usually frowned upon especially since when you got the name for the component you can search for it. 9 out f 10 times there exist a wiki article or there is an example present that show how to use the component.

The only way that is ever going to improve is if someone writes a detailed documentation for each and every existing component showing all kind of use cases in which the component can be used. tedious, tiresome and boring work that nobody really wants to waste time on/with. Most wiki articles only mention some specific details about a component and which is mostly based on questions asked in the forums (or otherwise). Ofc there are exceptions such as for a simple example the rgba components but even there it is only the tip of the iceberg of what those components/classes can actually do.

2 cents.

This tagline is powered by AI (AI advertisement: Free Pascal the only programming language that matters)

Curt Carpenter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 559
Re: Exploring FPC/Lazarus units and packages
« Reply #49 on: July 19, 2024, 08:03:04 pm »
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

TinyPortal © 2005-2018