[Mono-docs-list] Mono Documentation.

Martin Willemoes Hansen mwh@sysrq.dk
24 Dec 2002 13:22:27 +0100


On Mon, 2002-12-23 at 23:25, Felix Faassen wrote:
> Miguel,
> 
> Have you seen the toc I've written? 
> 
> As for the two groups of people I agree. I've  created a TOC because
> I've not yet found any central document which is focussed on the first
> part of users. There are some HOWTO's some tutorials and they all
> contain info concerning both groups but are more developer centric.

A couple of suggestions:
1. A chapter on the languages C#, Basic.NET, ie thoes that are supported
by mono.
2. In the appendices there could be a section on the license.
3. A chapter on the .NET class libraries ASP.NET, ADO.NET, Windows Forms
etc, instead of having a big chapter for them.
4. A chapter on addon class libraries, gtk#, qt#, vorbis# etc.

I kind of like to have everything together instead of splitting it up in
a manual and a tutorial. The TOC looks nice.

> Have you seen the TOC I've created? Any suggestion? 
> 
> Preface
> Mono
> About this document
> Contributing
> Target audience
> ECMA standards
> 
> PART 1        INTRODUCTION
>         
> 
>        CHAPTER 1 MONO
>  
>                1.1 What is .NET?
>                1.2 What is Mono?
>                1.3 An introduction to Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 2 ARCHITECTURE
>  
>                2.1 .NET Framework Architecture
>                2.2 Mono Implementation
>                2.3 Mono and the .NET Framework,a comparison
>  
>        CHAPTER 3 TOOLS OVERVIEW
>                3.1 The Mono Runtime
>                3.2 C# Compiler
>                3.3 VB Compiler
>                3.4 Mono IL Disassmbler
>  
> PART 2        INSTALLING MONO
> 
>        CHAPTER 4 GETTING STARTED
>                4.1 Installation overview
>                4.2 Installation considerations
>                4.2.1  System requirements
>                4.3 Choosing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
>  
>        CHAPTER 5 UNIX INSTALLATION
> 	       5.1 Linux installation
>                5.1.1 Getting the files
>                5.1.2 Compiling Mono
>                5.1.3 Installing Mono
> 
> 	       5.2 FreeBSD installation
>                5.2.1 Getting the files
>                5.2.2 Compiling Mono
>                5.2.3 Installing Mono
> 
> 	       5.2 Debian installation
>                5.2.1 Getting the files
>                5.2.2 Compiling Mono
>                5.2.3 Installing Mono
> 
>        CHAPTER 6 WINDOWS INSTALLATION
>                6.1 Getting the files
>                6.2 Compiling Mono
>                6.3 Installing Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 7 MACINTOSH INSTALLATION
>                7.1 Getting the files
>                7.2 Compiling Mono
>                7.3 Installing Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 8 CONFIGURING THE IDE
>                8.1 Emacs
>                8.2 Eclipse
>                8.3 #develop
>  
>  PART 3        USING MONO 
>  
>        CHAPTER 9 Runtime Environment
>  
>        CHAPTER 10 C# Compiler
>                10.1 Introduction
>                10.2 Command-line options
>                10.3 Compiler errors
>                10.4 Important notes
>  
>        CHAPTER 11 VB Compiler aka mBas
>                11.1 Introduction
>                11.2 Command-line options
>                11.3 Compiler errors
>                11.4 Important notes
>  
>        CHAPTER 12 MonoDoc XML
>                12.1 Introduction
>                12.2 MonoDoc XML Tags
>                12.3 Definition and Examples
>                12.4 Using the MonoDoc toolset (monograph, xs etc.)
>  
>  PART 4        DEVELOPING APPLICATIONS WITH MONO
>  
>        CHAPTER 13 Cross Platform Development
>        CHAPTER 14 GUI programming
>                14.1 Introduction
>                14.2 GTK#
>                14.3 Windows Forms
>        CHAPTER 15 ADO.NET in Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 16 ASP.NET in Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 17 Creating Web Services
>  
>        CHAPTER 18 Threading
>  
>        CHAPTER 19 Remoting support in Mono
>  
>        CHAPTER 20 Component Interoperability
>                20.1 Windows COM
>                20.2 Gnome Bonobo
> 
>        CHAPTER 21  DEPLOYING APPLICATIONS
> 
>  
>  APPENDICES
>  A     CODE SAMPLES USED IN THIS DOCUMENT
>  B     LINKS TO OTHER RESOURCES (links to specific tutorials etc)
>  C     RECOMMENDED READING
>  D     ECMA STANDARDS
>  E     CREDITS
> 
> 
> Felix
> On Mon, 2002-12-23 at 22:50, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> >    We should be thinking along the lines of who are we targeting with
> > this documentation?   I think there are two groups of people:
> > 
> > 	* Users of Mono technologies as a ready-to-use product.
> > 
> > 	* Developers of Mono components.
> > 
> >    The first group in the long run will probably consist of 95% of the
> > user base, while the later will remain a small percentage. 
> > 
> >    If you are embarking into writing documentation, it would be
> > beneficial to focus on the largest group: the users of mono
> > technologies.  With this in mind, I will reply to Alejandro's
> > suggestions" 
> > 
> > > 1. Adding extensions to our programs embedding Mono.
> > > 	1.1. With C.
> > > 	1.2. With Perl.
> > 
> > C is an interesting case, because many people will be embedding Mono
> > into C.
> > 
> > The particular case of Perl (and other languages soon to come) I think
> > is focused on Paolo's simple embedding of the Mono runtime with C that
> > allows Perl to call into Mono and viceversa.
> > 
> > Documenting this is aimed at a smaller group of people.  I think that
> > language embedding/merging/gating is probably best document in the
> > module itself, which is a more natural place to document it and track
> > it.
> > 
> > > 2. Mono LOGO.
> > > 3. Mono-guile.
> > 
> > These should probably be documented on their own as well.  When they are
> > mature, it would make sense to have a `users' guide scenario just as an
> > introduction and point to the right manual.
> > 
> > MonoLOGO is a full compiler implementation, while Mono-Guile is a
> > bridge, like the Perl bridge.  Probably bridges should be documented on
> > their own as well. 
> > 
> > > 4. Mono Debugger Framework (MDF)
> > > 	4.1. Backends.
> > > 	4.2. Frontends.
> > 
> > The debugger should be documented not from the perspective of a the
> > developers of it, but from the perspective of those that will be using
> > it.  Hence, both Backends and Frontends are implementation details,
> > which are of limited use to the general public.  There is enough
> > documentation in text format in the module for people interested in the
> > design.
> > 
> > Miguel
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Mono-docs-list maillist  -  Mono-docs-list@ximian.com
> > http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/mono-docs-list
> > 
-- 
Martin Willemoes Hansen

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