January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Walter Bright | "Walter Bright" <newshound2@digitalmars.com> wrote in message news:jesifv$2sm9$1@digitalmars.com... > > --------------------- > giving you powerful compile-time code generation abilities that'll make your code cleaner, more flexible and even more ecient. > > => > > giving powerful compile-time code generation abilities that'll make code cleaner, more flexible and even more ecient. > ------------------------ This particular one, I honestly think the "before" sounds better. But I do agree with...the poster to whom this author is replying to...on the other examples. |
January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Andrei Alexandrescu | On 01/14/2012 09:14 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> Since we're on this topic I can't stop picking - all in good fun I hope
> - on Jonathan, the master of words. The following two sentences convey
> the same exact information:
>
> 1.
>
>> There are certainly times when reducing how much "you" is used reduces
>> the
>> amount of text at no extra cost, but there are other times, when it's
>> far more
>> natural to use "you," and it can become harder to produce sentences
>> without
>> completely reworking that section of text if "you" is removed.
>
> 2.
>
>> Sure, it can reduce the word count, but I
>> really don't think that it does all that much to improve the quality
>> of the
>> text, and it can require quite a bit more work, since it tends to be
>> unnatural
>> to avoid "you" in the way that technical writers like to.
>
> This pattern is quite frequent in Jonathan's posts. I trained myself to
> skip the last sentence of each paragraph and often the last paragraph
> entirely.
>
>
> Andrei
>
In longer posts, I think the information is often laid out in an approximately palindromic way.
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January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Philippe Sigaud | "Philippe Sigaud" <philippe.sigaud@gmail.com> wrote in message news:mailman.374.1326575051.16222.digitalmars-d-announce@puremagic.com... > On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 21:07, Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail@erdani.org> wrote: >> On 1/14/12 5:21 AM, Philippe Sigaud wrote: >>> >>> Uh, I don't think it'll ever be a book. I didn't write it with a book in mind. >> >> >> It's organized as a book (TOC, index, structure) and has 141 pages with >> quite a few more to come. At this point it would be more difficult to >> make >> it /not/ a book. > > Fair point :) > > In my mind, a book is at least 300 pages and, well, professionally done. I can see Walter's point about ebook though. > I have plenty of physical books that are shorter than that! |
January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Nick Sabalausky | On 1/14/2012 1:00 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote: > "Walter Bright"<newshound2@digitalmars.com> wrote in message > news:jesl4i$30v3$1@digitalmars.com... >> >> You and I are going to disagree on this. >> > > Dosn't the reader mean "The reader and I are going to disagree on this"? ;) > (only j/k, of course. Although I have always hated when authors say "the > reader" instead of "you" which is what was obviously meant anyway. I just > sounds bad. I always read it as a clear sign the author was trying *way* too > hard to be "correct".) I agree with your comment about "the reader" being pretentious. As for my use of "you" there, I was talking specifically to Jonathan. That's different from writing a tech manual. Wearing jeans is appropriate in a conversation. >> But I will add that excessive use of "you" in technically minded books >> tends to, in my mind, reduce the book a grade in quality. > > The key there is "excessive use", not "any use". Eliminating excessive use > of "you" certainly improves the quality. But compulsively eliminating "you", > at best, makes the text sound pedantic, at worst, decreases the quality. > Either way, compulsively eliminating it leads to pointless contrivances and > awkward euphemisms like "the reader". The steps are: Novice: follow the rules because you're told to Master: follow the rules because you understand the rules Guru: break the rules because you know the limits of the rules |
January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Timon Gehr | On 1/14/2012 1:09 PM, Timon Gehr wrote:
> In longer posts, I think the information is often laid out in an approximately
> palindromic way.
We're not in Notlob, you know.
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January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Zachary Lund | On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 14:56, Zachary Lund <admin@computerquip.com> wrote:
> On page 78 where template mixins are discussed, some of the variable names feel rather confusing. I would suggest changing them to be more distinct.
OK, done. Tell me if it's better?
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January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Andrei Alexandrescu | On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 16:56, Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail@erdani.org> wrote: > On 1/13/12 3:20 PM, Philippe Sigaud wrote: > "They are used everywhere in Phobos, D standard library and any D user should know about them." -> "They are used everywhere in Phobos---D's standard library---and therefore any D user should know about them." Done. > "But, based on C++’s templates as they are, they can be a bit daunting at first." -> "But, based on C++’s templates as they are, D templates can be a bit daunting at first." Done. > "Well, D’s sane syntax for templates, nifty things like static if, alias or tuples cured me of that impression." -> "Well, D’s sane syntax for templates and nifty features such as static if, alias, or tuples, cured me of that impression." (Generally prefer "such as" to "like".) Done. > "I hope this docu- ment will help you also." -> "I hope this docu- ment will help you, too." Done. > "Part III presents other metaprogramming tools: string mixins (18), compile- > time function evaluation (19) and __traits (20)." -> "Part III presents > other metaprogramming tools: string mixins (18), compile- time function > evaluation (19), and __traits (20)." (Use the "Oxford comma" throughout.) Done (well, not the Oxford comma) > "template-y" -> "\mbox{template-y}" Done. > I think italics for comments look a bit baroque, how about slanted text? pygments/minted do not do slanted. I modifyed my own "borland.py" to get non-slanted comments. Anyone generating the pdf from the .tex files will get another highlighting, though. > "...in the next sections (You’ll see for example..." -> "...in the next sections (you’ll see for example..." Done. > "... except inside a (standard) function." -> "except inside a (regular) > function." Done. > Would be great to adjust the code formatting package to not number examples of 1 line long. Done. Now, only code samples where I refer to some lines are numbered. > "Templates Building Blocks" -> "Template Building Blocks" Done. > "Up to now, templates must seem not that interesting to you..." -> "Up to now, templates may not seem all that interesting..." Done. > "It’s both an expression and a declaration, so I’ll call it a construct." -> > "It’s both a statement and a declaration, so I’ll call it a construct." In > fact you can call it a declaration because some declarations may occur > wherever a statement is allowed. Done. Thanks for the comments! |
January 14, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Andrei Alexandrescu | On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 17:00, Andrei Alexandrescu <SeeWebsiteForEmail@erdani.org> wrote: > On 1/14/12 9:56 AM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote: > [snip] > > Oh, one more thing. It would be great to make the explanatory boxes either floats, sidebars, or \mbox{}es so they don't span more than one page. Look what happened with "Specializations or static if or Templates Constraints?" on page 21. OK, done. I (re)learnt some things about LaTeX spaces, boxes and lengths in the process *shudder* |
January 15, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Andrei Alexandrescu | On 01/14/2012 12:14 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> Since we're on this topic I can't stop picking - all in good fun I hope
> - on Jonathan, the master of words. The following two sentences convey
> the same exact information:
>
> 1.
>
>> There are certainly times when reducing how much "you" is used reduces
>> the
>> amount of text at no extra cost, but there are other times, when it's
>> far more
>> natural to use "you," and it can become harder to produce sentences
>> without
>> completely reworking that section of text if "you" is removed.
>
> 2.
>
>> Sure, it can reduce the word count, but I
>> really don't think that it does all that much to improve the quality
>> of the
>> text, and it can require quite a bit more work, since it tends to be
>> unnatural
>> to avoid "you" in the way that technical writers like to.
>
> This pattern is quite frequent in Jonathan's posts. I trained myself to
> skip the last sentence of each paragraph and often the last paragraph
> entirely.
>
>
> Andrei
>
I've always wanted to say the same but I couldn't be sure that I wouldn't be offensive. Now, hiding behind Andrei:
+1 :)
Ali
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January 15, 2012 Re: A tutorial on D templates | ||||
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Posted in reply to Philippe Sigaud | On 1/14/12 3:04 PM, Philippe Sigaud wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 21:07, Andrei Alexandrescu
> <SeeWebsiteForEmail@erdani.org> wrote:
>> On 1/14/12 5:21 AM, Philippe Sigaud wrote:
>>>
>>> Uh, I don't think it'll ever be a book. I didn't write it with a book in
>>> mind.
>>
>>
>> It's organized as a book (TOC, index, structure) and has 141 pages with
>> quite a few more to come. At this point it would be more difficult to make
>> it /not/ a book.
>
> Fair point :)
>
> In my mind, a book is at least 300 pages and, well, professionally
> done. I can see Walter's point about ebook though.
>
> Thank you all for the encouragements!
Great. With the publishing world undergoing quite some stir, I think it would be very interesting to experience with self-publishing via Kindle.
FWIW about 300 - not at all. "Exceptional C++" has 206 pages head to toe and is a great book. In fact 300 is probably a good upper limit in today's short-attention-span world.
Andrei
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