[antlr-interest] [v3] Lack of documentation

[scott at javadude.com]

>> I'M SAYING THE ANTLR v3 LICENSE IS BS IF PEOPLE MUST PAY FOR THE BASIC
>> DOCS.
>>
>
> I think that the point is that you are NOT forced to buy the book, in
> the same way you are not forced to buy lots of books on PHP, Java or the
> dragon book (especially the latest edition) and so on.

Completely different. The Java Language Manual is free. It has all the
details of the language in it.

Books on Java either make it easier to learn the language or give
tips/tricks to use the language more effectively (or are supposed to --
many are crap).

The ANTLR v3 ref manual is only available in the book. You must buy it to
know the deets.

For example:
* How do I use scopes? Only in the book
* How do I use predicates? Only in the book (unless you look at v2 docs)

And the list goes on and on.

Ter says "be patient, the v2 docs weren't there at the start either."

But he's already written the content; he's just hiding it in the book.

-- Scott



 It contains a lot
> of information and some good crib sheets, and doesn't really cost very
> much, and whether there is a billion pages in the wiki just a month or
> so after release or not it still worth a read for the price of a few
> beers/Starbucks/movies.
>
> There isn't anything on the site that says you have to buy the book for
> the stuff to make any sense. And maybe for people that have some prior
> ANTLR experience, the wiki will eventually be just as good, if not
> better. However, the book is a single start point for people who don't
> yet know what the heck they should be looking up on the wiki.
>
> I think that you probably pushed buttons you were not expecting to, but
> nevertheless I think you may have to consider that you were a little
> over-zealous when claiming that the BSD license is BS for this product?
> Also, perhaps you might be able to excuse Ter from being a little wound
> up about the thread by the time you joined in?
>
> I don't think that Ter or anyone is actually offended by reasonable
> comments about how much documentation is available, on the wiki or
> anywhere. Everyone knows that it isn't all together yet and those people
> who have respectfully asked (which isn't too much to be asked of
> anyone?) about documentation usually receive sympathy and a
> reinforcement that it will get there.
>
> Perhaps now, we can end this thread and rather than post messages
> telling people what their posts should look like, we just need to
> establish a guideline that "one must be polite"(1).
>
> Jim
>
> (1) Unless you buy the book, which comes with a license to kill ;-)
>