Re: Wiki update

On 3/11/11 at 19:05, kpreid-M/[email protected] (Kevin Reid) wrote:

>All of the usual trig, etc. functions are methods on float64s.
>
>Try
>
>? help(1.0)

OK, my fault.
   (1) I missed that section of the Walnut.
   (2) I never would have thought to use a constant as an argument.
   (3) The idea of:
     def x := 3.14159
     def sinX := x.sin()
   is a nice way to implement trig functions, but not obvious to 
a fortran/c/java programmer.

I note in passing that you will still need java.lang.Math if you 
need hyperbolic functions.

Why doesn't "help" appear in the list of functions for 
"help(interp)"? Where does desk-calculator mode bottom out?

>
>Which isn't to say that the documentation doesn't need 
>expanding --  that is, writing.

One of the constants in this life is that documentation always 
needs improving. I'm willing to take a crack at improvements. 
One improvement I can see is a way of finding Float64 and 
Number_protocol from the documentation links on the home page 
<http://www.erights.org/>. (Changing the text on the wiki link 
to be more inviting would be a good start. It would at least get 
people to the wiki. After that, we need a way to get to these 
specific pages.)
>
>It would be great to have full specification text and tests in
>http://wiki.erights.org/wiki/Float64
>http://wiki.erights.org/wiki/Number_protocol
>and other such pages.

As an assembler, C, and Java programmer, I'm used to finding 
documentation in books (or the online, electronic equivalent). 
As such I need to be bashed between the eyeballs to use E in 
desk-calculator mode*. I suggest a section in Walnut titled 
something like, "Asking E About Itself" which appears 
prominently in the table of contents. I am willing to take a 
crack at writing it.

* The lack of first-class, bash-like typing correction, 
line-recall and editing facilities discourages me from 
desk-calculator mode.

Cheers - Bill

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