Wiki Challenge Part 2

[TheSaint]

@czardas - Not many votes so far, so I'm not sure this Challenge is visible enough.

If we are really serious about amending the Wiki in a suitable way, then we need to reach a decent number of people.

I would suggest referral topics, named correctly in Chat, GH&S, GUI Help and maybe even Examples.

Whether the powers-that-be would be happy with us doing so, is another thing ... a STICKY perhaps?

Certainly in the Help sections, we are likely to get some of the target audience.

[czardas]

Why don't you suggest it?

[UEZ]

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.

 

 

Only current MVPs are allowed to enter, and no MVP is entitled to vote for the winner.

 

Further the code window her is limited - better is to copy the codes to SciTE to check it.

Br,

UEZ

[TheSaint]

@BrewManNH - I think you are being a tad picky there.

We are supposed to be judging the code, not really the comments,

Comments are subjective, and perhaps couched in a certain way for a beginner.

In any case, they can easily be amended.

Send, is one of AutoIt's great selling points, and really, if the User is going to be doing other things while doing a quick example, then what is the point?

I would also add, that we are talking visual in the first instance.

You have to entice the budding programmer with what they read first, so that they even bother to install AutoIt and run the example. If they look at the code, and think something is Cool, and that they would like to do or be able to do that, then you have achieved your goal.

P.S. In reality, one should be able to remove all the comments, and the example should have a good chance at standing on it's own legs and being understandable from a beginner's perspective.

Edited February 21, 2015 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Why don't you suggest it?

 

I expect they will read what was said here, and either say yay, nay or nothing.

 

 

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.

@mLipok - I can only agree.

This is a challenge in support of AutoIt.

Kudos to all participants!

[JohnOne]

Example 4 is good, but if I were a beginner (and I can remember them days) it would overwhelm me, and once again I have a bit of trouble seeing what the automation aspect of it is.

 

I like Example 5, it demonstrates automation well and is relatively simple to understand, not going to nitpick about comments or naming conventions on any of them.

 

So it's between Example 5 and Example 6 for me. I read the comments about it requiteing an English version of windows, I'm not sure why that is, but I'm sure tons of examples in the help file would also require it, and since it's written and commented in English, I would expect a user looking into coding would understand that. Also maybe there is a way to make it independant of language.

 

I cast my vote to Example 6.

[czardas]

I would like to comment that some of the points raised by mLipok and BrewManNH are really quite trivial to fix.

[mLipok]

I agree are trivial to fix.

Edited February 21, 2015 by mLipok

[mLipok]

Example 6:

English Word: calculator

In Winwait......

Edited February 21, 2015 by mLipok

[JohnOne]

WinWaitActive("[CLASS:CalcFrame]")

Edited February 21, 2015 by JohnOne

[TheDcoder]

I vote for #6 because it show the simplicity of AutoIt, All the other examples are hard to understand for beginners (incl me)

[TheSaint]

@czardas (etc) - It is my view, that we should probably extend the voting time, as we are not getting many votes, and I see no need to rush this important process.

I also discovered something disappointing, which I >mentioned here.

P.S. Questioning whether we MVP's can vote in this, after noticing BrewManNH had done so, I went back and read your first post. Obviously he missed the following.

 

Only current MVPs are allowed to enter, and no MVP is entitled to vote for the winner.

 

Perhaps he was voting for the loser?

Personally though, perhaps everyone should get a chance to vote in this?

Edited February 22, 2015 by TheSaint

[JohnOne]

Rules is rules, even though I agree with the time limit, and Brew's vote can simply be disregarded.

[mikell]

#1 : uses a non-Windows software, and you can't decently say in an explicative comment "see Help file for parm definition"
#2 : complicated. Not sure that a beginner knows what is a 2D array
#3 : what if the "K:" directory doesn't exist ? and @extended is an advanced thing
#4 : I personally love this script but seriously, you really think seduce an absolute beginner with GDI+ ? it's a joke...
#5 : too bad, this one is nice but too much dense and nearly unreadable

It seems that most MVPs have forgotten what can be in real life an "absolute beginner" 
Such a sample script to "convey the ease of use of AutoIt to beginners" should be really simple and if possible avoid UDFs
It's the reason why I voted for #6 , despite the "calculator" which won't work for non-english users but can be (as said JohnOne) easily modified
 

[mLipok]

It's the reason why I voted for #6 , despite the "calculator" which won't work for non-english users but can be (as said JohnOne) easily modified

 

#3 can also be easily modified , the more it has a large reserve of the number of lines..

 

btw.

#5 do not work for me as in Notepad opens as:

"Example File - Notatnik"

(without ".txt" in title)

so this two 

..
WinWaitActive($examplefile, "")
..
WinActive($examplefile, "")
..

will not work 

of course easy to modyfi.

[JohnOne]

Well they could all be modified.

3 could Use @HomeDrive & "", then it also assumes there are .au3 files on the drive, which could also be modified.

Point is, we have to choose one.

[Exit]

Point is, we have to choose one.

Unfortunately, there is no choice for "disagree to all"

My choice would be:

MsgBox(0, "My first AutoIt script","Hello world!")

[kylomas]

It could be that none are satisfactory for one reason or another.  We would be better served feeding back positive info to Jaberwacky and czardas.  Maybe they will take an example and modify it to thier criteria...

@Jaberwacky - If none fit your criteria, just say so, you guys are making up the rules.

[TheSaint]

@Exit - That one already exists.

If you read the requirements of this challenge, we aim to be a little more enlightening on the abilities of AutoIt than that.

We are trying to show it's simplicity and power (usefulness and flexibility etc).

It is indeed pretty difficult to create a simple script that does that.

@Everyone should also consider that what might be unacceptable as it is presented here exactly, can be tweaked, just like the winner of the previous challenge. So the idea, is to vote for what appears to be best of the lot, and let things go from there.

P.S. Or like kylomas says, we gain a starting point from which we can expand or expound upon.

In reality, the discussion and what can be seen as trials perhaps, is a good analytical exercise.

For my money, I don't believe any of the examples are perfect.

They all have their good points and their bad.

Edited February 22, 2015 by TheSaint

[czardas]

@czardas (etc) - It is my view, that we should probably extend the voting time, as we are not getting many votes, and I see no need to rush this important process.

 

A few more votes have been cast since your comment. If the arbiter sees fit to extend the period, it is within their power to do so.

Unfortunately, there is no choice for "disagree to all"

 

I did think of that idea, but decided against it. I don't believe anyone is planning on removing the 'Hello World' example from Wikipedia. I wasn't sure whether to allow multiple votes or not: jaberwacky suggested that I should not. I'm sure that many of you would have also voted for a second and third choice.

It could be that none are satisfactory for one reason or another.  We would be better served feeding back positive info to Jaberwacky and czardas.  Maybe they will take an example and modify it to thier criteria...

 

Nothing is written in stone (on Wikipedia).

---

It is very tough having your code judged by others in an open discussion like this, particularly when you have to wait for days before you can respond to people's criticism. I think all the participants have shown great strength of character in refraining from responding to specific comments.

Edited February 22, 2015 by czardas