in reply to Why oh Why oh Whyo (Catalyst Woes)

The deal is: if you are a beginner with Catalyst, go to IRC IMMEDIATELY. I'm sorry if this annoys the channel regulars, but that is just my judgement. Posting a question to the group is another option, but frankly I really dislike the interface (ie, sending an email -- I'd much prefer google groups, or phpbb or vbulletin or something), and having to search the group online with google means missing the most recent posts that google hasn't indexed yet. And I've had situations where I couldn't even understand what I really wanted to ask, until I chatted briefly to clear up the terminology.

It's not that the documentation is bad, or that there isn't enough of it -- though for some areas this is true. Just, things are changing so fast, and the whole kit and kaboodle is so overwhelming, that it's better to check in with the developers/groupies and say, "What should I read" than google around.

I bet if enough newbies overwhelmed the channel, the documentation effort would probably accelerate dramatically ;)

In my opinion, the documentation is 50% of the hurdle, the other issue is confusing dependencies, and these two problems are probably interlinked. But yes, things are definitely getting better. Go catalyst.

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Re^2: Why oh Why oh Whyo (Catalyst Woes)
by jhourcle (Prior) on Feb 24, 2006 at 15:05 UTC

    Any suggestions for those of whose work specifically forbids us from using IRC?

    (hell, depending on the interpretation of the rules, there's a chance that I'm not supposed to be posting on here, as it qualifies as "Participating in Chat Rooms, News Groups, or similar activities where the posting will be seen by the public", but it's specifically mentioning use of the domain name being seen, and you all can't tell where I work ... and I know a few other people on here work for the same place that has this rule)

    Oh -- and there's supposed to be a presentation on Catalyst at the next dc.pm meeting.

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      I suggest you try the mailing list in that case, assuming you are allowed email? Or post questions to perlmonks, I'll certainly attempt to answer them.. (Hmm, I need something that filters new nodes and tells me about interesting ones ;)

      C.

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Re^2: Why oh Why oh Whyo (Catalyst Woes)
by phaylon (Curate) on Feb 28, 2006 at 14:14 UTC
    The deal is: if you are a beginner with Catalyst, go to IRC IMMEDIATELY.

    I'd extend that to a: And please, after your problem is solved, just put it on the wiki. There's also a SolvedIssues page on it.

    I bet if enough newbies overwhelmed the channel, the documentation effort would probably accelerate dramatically ;) If the IRC channel is just treated as an answering-machine, I fear it won't. But as stated above, a simple contribution (problem/symptoms/solution) to the wiki is worth a lot. As I see it, there are three kinds of people giving Catalyst a drive:

    - The "alchemysts" (those who bring new ideas, techniques and modules no one thought about before)
    - The "live infantry" (those who make--sometimes heavy--use of Catalyst in production, finding edges, problems and things that need to get simpler) and
    - The "players" (those who play around with it. Some of these are also likely to improve documentation when they know where it's needed, submit simple patches, etc.)
    Ordinary morality is for ordinary people. -- Aleister Crowley
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