Wiki Challenge Part 2

[JLogan3o13]

I did? 

 

Perhaps I was paying less attention to the initial thread than I thought I was under the impression submissions went to you and then you submitted the top two. If I am mistaken, then my apologies to J1 for taking us down the rabbit hole unnecessarily.

[jaberwacky]

Oh, I have no idea what I'm talking about.  Yeah, that's what happened.  Submissions went to me and I sent them to czardas on the due date. 

Hah, well, not the top two.  All of them. 

Edited February 18, 2015 by jaberwacky

[czardas]

I accept full responsibility because this was my idea. I wanted to engage everyone in something that can be both productive and fun at the same time. I very much appreciate the support given by those who have participated, or intend to participate this time round. Things like this are seldom perfect.

Edit - clarification

Edited February 19, 2015 by czardas

[TheSaint]

If anyone thinks this challenge is easy, then they are obviously smarter than me.

1. Coming up with an idea, is somewhat difficult. Especially when you are trying to illustrate ease of use, power and also impart understanding.

2. Coding it, is relatively easy, except you are trying not to display a one trick show pony, so there is a degree of complexity.

3. Fitting it inside 32 lines of code, is not terribly hard, unless you are trying to make things easy to understand and visually non-complex.

That last, is the hard bit I'm finding out, for I feel that you either need to give a detailed commentary or make things so obvious, that a commentary is not really needed. Making things obvious though, takes extra lines of code, more variables, etc. At least, it seems that way to me.

Excuses excuses!

[czardas]

Replace the part about the seven dwarfs and you'll be fine!

Edited February 19, 2015 by czardas

[TheSaint]

It just won't be the same with only six dwarves ... though I'm sure that, not many will miss Grumpy.

[czardas]

Time for voting has finally arrived. A poll has been added to the first post for you to cast your vote. Please read the first post again before voting. You have approximately 3 days to decide which you think is best. The entries for this challenge are in the >second and >third posts of this thread. Good luck to everyone.

Edited February 20, 2015 by czardas

[JohnOne]

My thoughts so far, I have only looked at 3.

Example 1 requires 3rd party application to be installed.

I'm not sure I could describe Example 2 as an automation task.

Example 3 assumes a number of files exist in script directory, and also assumes I believe quite an uncommon drive letter exists.

[mLipok]

I Think now is voting time, not for discussion.

[JohnOne]

Not sure about that.

EDIT:

If I'm wrong, I'd sooner be pulled up on my thoughts by an eligible member so I can maker a more informed vote.

Edited February 21, 2015 by JohnOne

[iamtheky]

I think you are spot on, all reasons why i voted for #4.  Visually impressive, compact, and native.

[nitekram]

I am not sure who the audience is for these examples, but the only two that would be for a beginner would be #5 or #6. As for the other ones, I agree with what has already been said

#4 is really nice though.

[czardas]

I don't see any problem with people discussing the entries. This is also meant to be a learning experience.

Edited February 21, 2015 by czardas

[mLipok]

Some of the examples are not universal, eg. Do not work on other language versions of Windows.

Some do not work because the system settings (I think, it is possible that I am wrong).

Some examples are too complicated (for me at least, taking into account guidance from the opening post).

Some do not meet the assumptions of "comply to standard coding practices", at least in my understanding, (I am thinking of naming variables).

 

Before the vote, I had an internal struggle, I myself with myself.

I chose not what I liked the most, as I was driving to the assumptions, and my understanding of them.

So I chose what to my humble opinion, the most suited to the initial assumptions.

 

If it will be possible after the vote, I would happily call the appropriate patch (not necessarily have to be taken into account).

[czardas]

mLipok - Perhaps it was a bit of a last minute rush for one or two entrants. Maybe they saw the thread a little late like JohnOne did previously. You are entitled to voice constructive criticism as far as I am concerned: I don't think anyone will mind that. The good thing is that small details can easily be ironed out. You are voting for the code you like best at the end of the day.

[UEZ]

Well, what is complicated and what not, what is a good example for a beginner what not is not easy to answer because it depends on the individual's talent for coding.

 

Example:

#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>

Global Const $iTimeout = 30
MsgBox($MB_APPLMODAL, "AutoIt Lesson 1", "Hello world!", $iTimeout)

This is a very easy example but is it a good example?

 

For me, a beginner should be able to analyze the code and try to understand using the help file and searching the AutoIt forums.

All these examples should be easy to understand if you spend some time for analyzing which should be prerequisite if you want to learn.

Br,

UEZ

Edited February 21, 2015 by UEZ

[TheSaint]

Some do not meet the assumptions of "comply to standard coding practices", at least in my understanding.

Like you said, remember who we are talking about here.

A beginner is likely to have no understanding about standard coding practices.

The idea, should be NOT to baffle them about unknown concepts.

Rather it is to show them how easy it is to use AutoIt, and if possible how powerful or useful it can be.

Once they start their programming journey, they have all the time in the world to learn the finer points of coding etiquette etc.

As I've said elsewhere, the example should not really be couched as a tutorial or lesson, but rather as an enticement.

EDIT

That last is my personal belief anyway. Others may have a different take.

Edited February 21, 2015 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Well, what is complicated and what not, what is a good example for a beginner what not is not easy to answer because it depends on the individual's talent for coding.

For me, a beginner should be able to analyze the code and try to understand using the help file and searching the AutoIt forums.

All these example should be easy to understand if you spend some time for analyzing which should be prerequisite if you want to learn.

 

I would go further, and say, that they should be able to look at the code, and have a reasonable degree of understanding, without having to go elsewhere. Having to go elsewhere, could be a deterrent for some. Especially if you are looking for simplicity, which is indeed one of AutoIt's excellent selling points.

Remember we are talking about three basic kinds of interested people ... though there are many variants.

[1] Complete beginner with no experience.

[2] A beginner with a little experience, who has possibly failed with or been disappointed with other languages.

[3] A beginner who has experience with other languages.

P.S. We are indeed limited in this endeavor, by what the budding programmer would conceive as complex and or outside their comfort zone.

Ideally, the ones judging this challenge, should be a bunch of beginners, the targeted audience.

Most of us here, are not really subjective enough, because we have too much understanding and knowledge.

It may seem an easy challenge to some some, but I think not.

Edited February 21, 2015 by TheSaint

[mLipok]

Ideally, the ones judging this challenge, should be a bunch of beginners, the targeted audience.

Most of us here, are not really subjective enough, because we have too much understanding and knowledge.

It may seem an easy challenge to some some, but I think not.

Good point.

Unfortunately, as far I can see a small number of votes.

I hope that after the vote, no one will have, to me resentment.

Because I think they (examples) are all interesting and good, but I could only choose one.

[BrewManNH]

I voted for #3 only because it can be run on any system. 

#1 requires CCleaner to be installed on the computer to even run it.

#2 is impossible to read, too many comments and not nearly enough whitespace around them

#4  is not a good example script to demonstrate the language, it's just too complicated as a beginner's example.

#5 has comments that aren't accurate, and it uses Send which probably wouldn't work well if the user doesn't know that practically anything they do on the computer is going to cause it to break the script.

#6 requires an english language version of Windows, and also uses send.