Re: GDP: rearrange manual

[Eyolf Østrem]

On 10.09.2007 (05:28), Graham Percival wrote:
> Eyolf Østrem wrote:
> >I would also say -- although this may exceed the limits of what kind
> >of suggestions were allowed -- that one thing that is missing is a
> >comprehensive survey of the syntax of Lilypond.

> Like Appendix E Cheat sheet ?  It's quite limited at the moment, but is 
> that what you're talking about?

Something like that, but also containing a summary of what is in ch. 9
Changing defaults and 10. File structure. Anyone who uses LP is to
some extent a programmer, and one doesn't have to stray very far from
the simplest pieces before it becomes necessary to look into those
chapters. But although the information is probably there, there is a
gap between the simple basics and the syntactically quite complicated
stuff in scheme: it takes a while to get one's head around "Why should
this word be in CamelCase?  Why are there no braces here?" etc. 

In an earlier mail, I mentioned one such case:

  "9.1.5 Changing context default settings 
   
   \layout { 
     ... 
     \context { 
       \Staff 
         ... 
     } 
   } 
   Here \Staff takes the existing definition for context Staff from the 
  identifier \Staff." 
   
  Why is this an identifier, which usually (it seems) are lower-case? Why isn't 
  what follows it enclosed in {}? And, again, do the three "Staff"s in the 
  explaining sentence refer to three different (types of) objects? Is the first 
  \Staff a different item than the context Staff, which just happens to have 
  the same name? Is this \Staff the "identifier \Staff" which is mentioned 
  later in the sentence, or is it yet another thing with the same name? 
  I'm confused... Mostly because of the {}-less syntax, but also by the 
  same-same-but-different names. 

> Expanding the Cheat sheet has been discussed from time to time; it comes 
> down to resources.  At the moment, I think it's more important to clean up 
> the notation reference.  If we have time/energy left afterwards, we could 
> tackle this... or if anybody wants to volunteer specifically to do this, 
> that would be great; I could help you get started.

I fully understand the resources thing, and I greatly appreciate your
work on this. 

Eyolf

-- 
Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.

There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.
                -- J. R. R. Tolkien