Re: doc work

[Stan Sanderson]

On Aug 16, 2008, at 3:22 PM, Patrick Horgan wrote:

> Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> > The last time I checked Mutopia, I was shocked by the (low) quality  
> > of the coding.  =(
> > I personally would never suggest that anyone use any Mutopia file  
> > I've seen as an example/template.
> How about the O Magnum Mysterium that I just re-did and contributed  
> back to Mutopia? <grin;>
>
> > > I don't want tutorial-newbies trying to figure out what
> > > parts of a real piece to delete in order to get a basic template.
> >
> > Um... the notes only, just like now?
> > Kieren.
> <LOL>  I would like real songs, they don't all have to be  
> complicated, but complicated enough to demonstrate whatever the  
> template is trying to do.
>
> Patrick


As a decidedly non-professional user of Lilypond and appreciative  
contributer to Mutopia, my perspective somewhat different. Since my  
first real effort with Lilypond (v2.0.1), Mutopia has often provided  
me with the answer to a problem I had been unable to solve despite  
reading the documentation and searching user lists. This is probably  
more an indictment of my reading skills than of the documentation.

I would certainly not hold up my meager contributions as examples of  
quality coding; however, I never understood Mutopia to have a such a  
requirement. I, and presumably all other contributers to Mutopia, am  
guilty at worst of wanting to share music which I found interesting.  
Lilypond, as it has evolved, made that possible.

That said, the current work on documentation is wonderful and  
exciting. And yes, I can see value in providing complete examples.  
They can help those of us who are less technically gifted to find  
answers, just as I was helped in the early years of Mutopia and early  
versions of Lilypond.

Regards,

Stan