ID:134726
 Nov 22 2005, 10:38 am
|
|
I was thinking about the byond site and how I think it would be a good idea to have the DM Reference be editable like the Bwicki. That way when you look through the reference you can add example code to a subject. Or maybe have links within the reference to related info elsewhere such as in the forum or the Bwicki. I know this could lead to a messy reference but it would be nice to have the byond reference material have someway to find related topics.
| |
|
Nov 22 2005, 10:53 am
|
|
Sniper Joe
 |
But then, some noobs would come along and delete/change/post bad code, and other people would learn wrong.
|
And then some non-noobs will come and fix it! That's the great thing about a wiki; it doesn't stay wrong for very long. =)
Also note that there was usr misuse in the DM reference for a long time (and possibly still is). Same goes for the DM guide. Anyway, I fully support this idea. | |
Me too!</aim>
The reference is really outdated currently, so this sort of thing needs to happen. And I strongly suspect there will be a 4.0 edition of the Blue Book, once it comes out... | |
Drumersl wrote:
I was thinking about the byond site and how I think it would be a good idea to have the DM Reference be editable like the Bwicki. That way when you look through the reference you can add example code to a subject. Or maybe have links within the reference to related info elsewhere such as in the forum or the Bwicki. I know this could lead to a messy reference but it would be nice to have the byond reference material have someway to find related topics. No need to wait for BYOND staff -- assuming Tom approves, people could copy pieces of the DM guide over to the Bwicki and do this. Though we have discussed doing some improved form of Wiki, and this could be a good way to get a new such project started. | |
I think the Bwiki should be remade, more like..
http://wikka.jsnx.com/ It looks ALOT more professional than our Bwiki. | |
I would be willing to help out with copying the reference, but of course we would need Tom's approval and some sort of standardized formating for it in the wiki, as far as how to deal with examples et cetera.
| |
I was thinking more about this idea, and I believe that this idea would help new programmers learn DM and not just copy other people's code. If the reference was in the Wiki format it would also be more accessible because it would allow for sections to be rewritten for clarity and as I said, allow people to include relevant demos. (Note: when I say relevant demos I do not mean a whole program, I mean just enough code to show how the specific idea can be applied. If someone thought that a full-fledged demo pertained to the section then they could provide a link or post on another page.)
As I am writing this I am realizing that maybe there should be two different references, an open version and the official one. The open version could add sections such as how to use a few of the procs together to make something useful, and the official one would still be a good reference because of the clear format of it and also because it could be used as a fact checker for the open version. My ideas for formatting: (These are just ideas, I know they sound a little authoritative, but I am not trying to come off like that, I am just trying to think this project through so it does not become a mess) My idea for format was to divide it either by every single subject, or divide it by the secondary subjects, (which would result in less pages but could also make for a confusing reference if the pages became to long). All the page names should start with the same thing, for example DmReferenceXyz, this would lead to better organization overall. Also Different levels in the tree should include the hierarchy in its name: DmReferencePreprocessorElse – The page for the article on the preprocessor else command. The format of the individual pages would have to be uniform also: all the titles the same size, (lets say 7 as an approximation), all the text be the same size, and all the examples be formatted the same. Also the definition should be divided from the examples, probably with a line and the pages could include, as the BetterBwicki pages recommends, a see also line. That is all I can think of for now. Note that this project is still pending the approval of Dan or Tom. | |
I'm not a big fan of a DM Guide wiki. I just think that with all the people out there that have good intentions but don't know what they're talking about we would end up with a huge mess.
However an idea I do like is what they've done over at the PHP documentation. It's pretty simple. You can post comments on the pages. So if I was reading the page on foreach() and felt something needed to be added to the page I could just post a comment. If you really wanted to get fancy you could have a guide keeper who looks over the comments then updates the main pages to include things from comments. | |