From: "Brian Schröder" <ruby@...>
Date: 2004-10-05T23:55:34+09:00
Subject: Re: A ruby course

Thanks a lot for the exhaustive list! I'm sorry that I seem to have put 
up slides where the formating was broken. I'm just uploading the new 
version. (Now including unit testing).

Regards,

Brian


Gavin Sinclair wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 5, 2004, 3:17:47 AM, Brian wrote:
> 
> 
>>Hello List,
> 
> 
>>again I ask for your help. I'm going to give a 16 hours course on ruby
>>this week, and I've created some slides to aid me with this.
>>I have to admit that some examples might not be as bright as I wish, and
>>also there are missing some exercises.
>>I created the slides in english, such that they can be used by a bigger
>>part of the community if need should be.
> 
> 
>>The slides will not cover all that I hope to say in the course, when the
>>slides have finished I will start with a free experimentation phase 
>>based on my ants sample implementation
>>http://ruby.brian-schroeder.de/ants/
> 
> 
>>It would be great if some of you could look at the slides and correct
>>the language and if somebody comes up with a great example or exercise I
>>would also be glad for comments.
> 
> 
>>The slides are located at
>>http://ruby.brian-schroeder.de/course/
> 
> 
> 
> p4. Output doesn't fit on page (what I'll call "output overflow").
> 
> p7. Output overflow, plu inappropriate full justification of code.
> 
> BTW: why can I see "this=is=the=result;nil" all over the place?  Yuck.
> 
> p8. s/follow/follows/  s/shure/sure/
> 
> p10. s/the class/the class./
> 
> p12. s/vi/vim/  :)
> 
> p13. Prefer a typewriter (monospace) font.  *Much* prefer.  This goes
>      for most, if not all, code and output.  But *especially* on this
>      page :)
> 
> p14. s/into ri/into irb/
> 
> I'll just pause to say that this is a very very very good set of
> slides, and attractively presented.  Well done.
> 
> p16. s/can be used/can be used.../   s/but beware/...but beware/
> 
> p19. "map do ... end" reads badly to me, as a matter of style, because
>      map is not *doing* anything; it's generating a value.  So I
>      prefer to read "map { ... }".  I realise you're probably trying
>      to keep it simple.
> 
> p20. You've got room; format line 9 onto three lines for clarity.
> 
> p21. Oh, I see.  You may not have room.  Consider it anyway.
> 
> p22. Boring example.  Think of something that generates an interesting
>      result.
> 
> p23. s/instanciated/instantiated/  s/n times/n times./
>      s/longest_string ,/longest_string,/
>      s/shortest_string/shortest_string,/
> 
> p24. s/"/""/
> 
> p28. Good exercise. With the Fibonacci generator class, give example
>      usage and output so students know what they're aiming for.  This
>      will require its own slide.
> 
> p29. s/A real application/A Real Application/   (suggestion only)
> 
> p31. s/gui/GUI/
> 
> p32. Lines 2 and 3 have inconsistent punctuation.  Add a period, or
>      remove one.
> 
>   (Nice example app, by the way.)
> 
> p33. Is it possible to show us a "screenshot" of the application
>      before launching into improvements?
> 
> p34. As per p32.
> 
> p36. s/Re raise/Re-raise/
> 
> p36. What about plain old "rescue"?  (i.e. what does it rescue by
>      default?)
> 
> p37. Slight output overflow.   s/running./running/  ?
> 
> p38. s/running./running/  ?
> 
> p39. Format line 8 on several lines for readability.
> 
> p42. s/clients socket/client's socket/
>      s/clients-thread/the client's thread/
> 
> p43. Title case?
> 
> p44. "Accessor functions" repeated.  "Modules" and "Modules
>      Exercises": no other outline has this information.
> 
> p45. s/propertys/properties/
>      The "Calculated Property" and "Shortcut" boxes would look better
>      if their positions were reversed.
> 
> p47. s/array like/array-like/g
>      s/, can be used/ can be used/g
>      Slight overflow bottom right.
> 
> p48. s/christian/Christian/    (I think; I use "given name" anyway.)
>      The fields and descrptions don't match!!
>      s/String::split/String#split/
> 
>      Perhaps you want Person#name -> Name object, with
>        Name#first and Name#last.
>      Then Person#age and Person#gender to complete the exercise.
> 
> p49. s/no special/not a special/
>      s/function,/function/
>      This slide is confusing.  You're not demonstrating the ability to
>      "change classes, functions, modules at runtime".
> 
> p50. 0! == 1
> 
> p51. Good exercise.  How about another?
> 
> p52. It would be good to teach extending objects, because it's core to
>      Ruby, and important when understanding "class methods".  But you
>      can emphasise that it's advanced material, so students needn't be
>      worried if they don't get it straight away.  (It's not *that*
>      hard to accept, anyway... :)
> 
> p53. A comment on line 21 would help: "Includes the AntGame namespace
>      to this context", or something.
> 
> p54. I can't follow this code at a (late night) glance, so I hope
>      you're explaining it well in person :)
> 
> p55. Missing exercises.
> 
> p56. Title case?
> 
> p57. Again, second-level headings in the section overview are
>      inconsistent with the early style.
> 
> 
> So close, but so tired.  I'll review the rest tomorrow.  This is a
> *brilliant* learning/teaching resource.  I'm teaching a couple of
> friends Ruby at the moment, and I'll be giving this to them for
> self-study.
> 
> Cheers,
> Gavin
> 
> 

-- 
Brian Schr�der
http://ruby.brian-schroeder.de/