dtutor.org: a call to action

[Nathan M. Swan]

On Sunday, 5 May 2013 at 19:37:02 UTC, Tyro[17] wrote:
> The main contributors of D are doing a wonderful job of 
> enhancing the
> language. I can confidently say that we are leagues ahead of 
> where we
> stood a just two years ago. But there has been a long cry for
> documentation that has gone unanswered: not because they refuse 
> to
> cooperate but rather, because they are a small volunteer force, 
> occupied
> by real demands to address the quirks of the language, and lack 
> the time
> to all issues by themselves.

Don't we all :(

>
> It stands then that the community can make a conscious effort 
> to address
> some of the outstanding issues. As such, I have chosen to 
> champion the
> tutorial/documentation effort. Though, I possess very little 
> programming
> experience but am willing to try and am hereby soliciting your
> assistance in making this a reality.

Good luck!

>
> dtutor.org is an active domain dedicated to providing tutorials 
> for the
> language. I will require content contributors but before we can 
> begin to
> provide content there are a couple of issues to address:
>
> I. Features to be supported
>
>     Interactive Tutorials - Users must be able to modify and 
> execute
> examples in place to observe side effects.

You have DPaste to work with here (http://dpaste.dzfl.pl/), IIRC 
it is connected to sample code at dlang.org.

>
>     Interactive Books - A number of free books exist around the 
> internet
> that can be ported to D. The first two that come to mind are 
> How to
> "Think Like a Computer Scientist", "Problem Solving with 
> Algorithms and
> Data Structures Using Python" and Ali Çehreli's very own 
> "Programming in D".

Videos are useful as well.

>
>     Problems - Staged ICPC problems for users to attempt. 
> Solutions may
> be submitted online for comparison against previously submitted
> solutions to determine efficiency ranking and users may choose 
> to create
> and account to keep track of progress.
>
>     Online Judge - to be used to determine accuracy and 
> efficiency of
> submitted solutions to problems and planned programming 
> contests.

I've had good experiences learning via stuff like that.

>
>     Forum - Unlocked to individual users per problem after 
> solution
> accepted by Online Judge.

Rejected Software (creators of vibe) has vibenews, which I 
believe is quite customizable.

>
> II. Look and Feel
>
> Look and feel of the site will be largely influenced by two 
> things: The
> DConf website and this little gem which provides encouragement 
> for the
> ideas behind interactive tutorials/books:
>
> 	Runestone (https://github.com/bnmnetp/runestone);
>
> I came across it while searching for ideas on how to get 
> started with
> dtutor.org and must admit: it is a fascinating little project.
>

It is!

I have to vouch for cplusplus.com, which isn't interactive, but I 
was able to teach myself C++ with only that and "C++ for 
Dummies," so it worked for one guy.

> I am wondering if there are any Python experts (or experts in 
> general)
> out there willing to assist in porting it to D? It comes with 
> built in
> support for Python and C/C++ among other languages. However, 
> because
> dtutor.org aims to promote all things D, it would aid greatly 
> to have a
> D implementation which removes all external dependencies and 
> support
> vice implementing D support for the original project. By doing 
> this we
> can showcase the strengths of DMDScript, vibe and other 
> technology
> already available in D.
>
> Logo: My idea for the logo is simply this (see attachment):
>
> 	D!(tutor).org

If your target audience is people who know little about D, this 
would just look odd.

>
> As Andrei would say: destroy!
>
> III. Constraints
>
> DMDScript for web scripting
> Vibe for hosting (diet templates)
> MangoDB for database
>
> IV. Timeline
>
> The hope is for complete functionality by DConf 2014.
> Shooting for Initial Launch by September.
>
> Calling all website designers, database developers, authors and 
> D
> enthusiast. Lend a hand in eliminating this problem.

Like everyone, my time is limited, but I can help a bit. Sign me 
up!

>
> Andrew

NMS