Alpha documentation

(:title Alpha documentation:)

The AlphaDocumentation site is maintained by DonavanHall, it can be found at

• http://magnet.fsu.edu/~hall/docscripting/alpha/ <--don't bother clicking this link, it's bad, see note below.

As I mentioned on my personal page DonavanHall, I've switched careers. I don't have access to the web account above. Two years ago I moved most of the documentation to my personal site:

• http://donavanhall.net/alphaville/

but a few months ago I switch web hosts and now those files don't exist anymore.

Click here [http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/alphatcl/Help/#dirlist] to browse the current Help documents included with the latest versions of AlphaTcl. If you want to suggest a new section (or contribute some Help text) to any of Alpha's Help files, please check out the Help.HelpTheHelpFiles page.

For any one interested in getting a sneak preview of the future of Alpha's documentation, Donavan keeps drafts and notes at the following url:

• http://hallmac.magnet.fsu.edu/~donavanh/alpha/ <--don't bother with this either, totally dead.

The above site is definately out of commission. It was running on the G4, OS X machine in my old office.

The Alpha Documentation Team is debating how best to implement Alpha's new documentation system. A record of sugguestions, ideas, and comments are provided on the Help.AIDE page.

The New Alpha Documentation

CraigUpright and DonavanHall are rewriting and updating Alpha's documentation. The following is a rough outline of proposed document sets. See also the Help.AIDENumberingScheme for how these document sets/projects fit in Help.AIDE.

1. Alpha Quick Start (What's up with the line wrapping?)[http://magnet.fsu.edu/~hall/docscripting/alpha/manual/quickstart/index.html]

2. LearningAlpha (I just need to get my dissertation written.)

• includes an update of the Alpha Manual
• update and correction of all help files in Alpha's distribution
• implementation of Help mode
• will provide numerous tutorials
• tutorials will run in an Alpha shell
• printable documentation

3. Exploring Alpha (Adventurous Users)

• full reference manual for the serious Alpha user
• extensive customization of Alpha

4. Unlocking Alpha (Advanced Users/Developers)

• So, you want to write your own package?

5. The Alpha Cookbook

• Recipes for creating modes, packages and menus

6. Alpha User's Reference

• Everything the Alpha user needs conveniently indexed and referenced

7. Alpha Developer's Reference

• Everything the Alpha developer needs conveniently indexed and referenced