[Etester-devel] Re: E-Tester 2.1.2

[Gunnar G. <gu...@cs...>]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for your help.

I noticed, as you stated in my office that I was using to_html.   I 
thought some more about the program.  It turns out that my  use of 
to_print is a left over from etester 1.7.  With each version I make 
minimal changes to have a system run.  With v1.7 the output went to a 
terminal window, now it goes to an html file.   My use of to_print 
caused spurious terminal output and I could not understand why but 
since the system worked and I got the html file, I did not worry 
about it and went on to other tasks.

At a base level it was my fault in not understanding etester (I 
probably still don't), as I should not have been using to_print and 
the problem would not have come up with the dictionary system and 
other examples.

Cheers ... Gunnar


At 10:50 AM -0400 9/10/03, Dave Makalsky wrote:
>Hi Gunnar:
>
>Thank you for your continued assistance in clarifying the changes.
>
>to_html is a procedure and not a function, therefore 
>print(to_html(filename)) will not work.
>
>What you need to do is simply call to_html("filename.html")
>
>and then use etester-gui or some html browser to examine filename.html.
>
>Cheers,
>
>DM
>
>Gunnar Gotshalks wrote:
>
>>Hi Dave,
>>
>>Responses interspersed with your message.
>>
>>At 6:04 PM -0400 9/9/03, Dave Makalsky wrote:
>>
>>>E-Tester 2.1.2 has been released.
>>
>>
>>I downloaded and tried it on my dictionary system.  It failed to 
>>compile, no to_string feature, see below.
>>
>>>Changelog:
>>>
>>>- indexing clauses have been updated to reflect the current version number
>>
>>
>>Good.
>>
>>>- As per Gunnar's suggestion the folder is now named etester2.1.2 and not
>>>etester2-dev
>>
>>
>>Thank you.  It helps the user keep track of the different versions 
>>-- I have now three:
>>2.0, 2.1 and 2.1.2.  Oops, need to remove 2.1.
>>
>>>- to_string has been removed since to_html is superior ... this 
>>>will eventually
>>>   be replaced with to_xml
>>
>>
>>Thank goodness for this message as I would have been completely 
>>lost without it.   I suggest that with every new version you give a 
>>change log.  I do not believe that I am in the minority in saying 
>>that I have may other things I want to do besides spending time 
>>reverse engineering systems to find differences.
>>
>>Sorry but more negativity,  Using your statement, I replaced 
>>to_string with to_html.   The compilation failed.  I now find out 
>>that the parameters have changed.  My question, after searching for 
>>the feature (which class is it in? I assume it is in the 
>>HTML_REPORTING cluster but there are three classes tosearch).
>>
>>My point.  Why do I have to search?  The comment to_string has been 
>>replaced by to_html needs to be expanded to somelike the following.
>>
>>to_string has been replaced by to_html.  In version 2.0 the use of 
>>to_string was
>>    print(to_string)
>>The use of to_html is similar as follows
>>    print(to_html(output_file_name))
>>
>>I have not tried that.  Is that correct?  Or do I have to do more 
>>trial and error work?
>>
>>Please, when making changes for clear, unambiguous instructions for 
>>users about the changes.  The computing world, and even the 
>>technology world in general, has too many people and instances that 
>>like game playing and think that all users should spend hours 
>>experimenting with their systems when changes take place.
>>
>>Please tell me, and other users exactly what changes I need to make 
>>to have old programs work.  This is very important as I have 
>>examples for students that are "old" and on Prism they are using 
>>v2.1 or v2.1.2 so my examples all fail.  I have may other things to 
>>to besides trial and error playing with etester  (for example I 
>>have to prepare for a COSC 3401 class in 45 minutes).    I repeat 
>>such instructions, should be industry standard.
>>
>>I also note that you are planing on changing from to_html to 
>>to_xml. Thus you are expecting me and others, to edit all old 
>>programs now and again in the future.  This is not good design. 
>>The interface should be the most stable part of the system.  It is 
>>the most critical and most time consuming for user's of your system 
>>to learn and then modify.
>>
>>If you are going to change the name then change it to  to_sgml 
>>because SGML is the abstract standard that includes HTML, XML, 
>>Bookmaster, Lector, and other tagging systems.  For variations you 
>>have  
>>to_sgml_html, to_sgml_xml but these are additions to your system. 
>>Do not remove such features as that forces all clients to be edited.
>>
>>Cheers ... Gunnar