Tutorial creates confusion about slices

[Antoon Pardon]

On 2007-04-24, Michael Bentley <michael at jedimindworks.com> wrote:
>
> On Apr 24, 2007, at 4:47 AM, Antoon Pardon wrote:
>
>> On 2007-04-24, Michael Bentley <michael at jedimindworks.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Apr 24, 2007, at 1:39 AM, Antoon Pardon wrote:
>>>
>>>> I suspect that if you give this explanation to someone and explain
>>>> that there is also a step parameter, chances are he will answer
>>>> correctly if you ask him, what he thinks the following will result
>>>> in:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>   "This is an example line"[12:19:2]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you ask him what the following will result in:
>>>>
>>>>   "This is an example line"[19:12:-1]
>>>>
>>>> Chances are he will give the wrong answer.
>>>
>>> To be honest, bro -- I'd expect him to have enough intelligence to
>>> experiment for a second and figure it out.  This isn't rocket science
>>> -- you can plainly see what's happening -- so learn it and move  
>>> on.   
>>
>> I don't think that the possibility to experiment and see for oneself
>> is a good reason to keep a possible confusing explanation in a  
>> tutorial.
>
> It's only potentially confusing if you already know more than has  
> been presented and are in fact, *experimenting* with techniques that  
> have yet to be presented.

People don't read tutorials in a strictly linear fashion. They can
continue to later subjects and then come back here to see how things 
tie together. So the fact that it is only confusing to those who
know more than is already presented doesn't seem a very good reason
to leave it in.

>>> Or better yet, quietly submit a patch...
>>
>> Why should I? If the reactions would have been one of agreement that
>> this is confusing and that the explanation should be changed, I would
>> have considered submitting a patch.
>>
>> But most people that reacted seem to defend the current text in some
>> way or another. So if most people seem to feel there is no need for
>> a change why should I then submit a patch?
>
> ... or even continue the thread?

It is always interresting to see how far people are willing to go to
defend the status quo.

I bet that if the tutorial was written now, given the possible
confusion, nobody would defend including this section. But now
that it already is in the tutorial it suddenly is worth defending.

-- 
Antoon Pardon