Re: [mv] minivend--interchange documentation

["Barry Treahy, Jr." <Treahy@mmaz.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from "Barry Treahy, Jr." <Treahy@mmaz.com>     ******

Hi Joachim,

this was a style of syntax definition from the Pascal era which clearly documented required,
optional, and mutually exclusive options as well as dependencies.  It made use of the programming
language documentation very clear and you never had to guess what was permitted...

As one who is still learning the tip of the MV iceberg, taking examples from the MV documentation as
a template for a solution to a problem rarely produces positive results the first, second or third
time.  There is a lot of trial and error in the process.

A simple example are tags that must be used only within the context of other tags as well as the
proverbial [IF] tags with comparison statements.  Though the list has been VERY quiet, which my
earlier posting questioned, there are a lot of questions posted on this list regarding something as
basic as the correct syntax for an [IF] tag and how to perform a comparison.  It almost (I hate
absolute declaratives though I believe it might be appropriate here) never fails that the helps
posted are varied and and sometimes faulty themselves because it would appear that there is no
clear, definitively correct syntax that works 100% of the time.

Please do not take this as a bitch or complaint, I'm grateful for the MV system, but most would
agree that documentation for just about any system can always use improvement and MV is no
exception.

Regards,

Barry

Hans-Joachim Leidinger wrote:

> "Barry Treahy, Jr." schrieb:
> > Yes, I second this and for each tag, document all parameters clearly with defined restrictions
> > (ie positional),  all parameter options listed and exclusions perhaps a little Backus-Naur
> > style?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Barry
>
> Hi Barry,
>
> sorry to disturb you, but what is "Backus-Naur style"?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Joachim
>
> --
> -------------Hans-Joachim Leidinger---------------------

--

Barry Treahy, Jr  *  Midwest Microwave  *  Vice President & CIO

E-mail: Treahy@mmaz.com * Phone: 480/314-1320 * FAX: 480/661-7028


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