[m-dev.] for review: changes to the tutorial

[Ralph Becket]

Hi David,

> Could you please review this? I suspect that my improvements might themselves
> be improved...

Sure

> A bunch of little clarifications that came up after a new user (Anthony
> Senyard) went through the tutorial. Thanks Anthony.
> 
> tutorial/description-etc.m4:

This should be
tutorial/determinism-etc.m4

> 	Write a condition as `X >= 7' rather than `7 =< X'.

Yes, it's a matter of personal taste.  I suspect LP newcomers will
find your change easier on the palatte.

> 	Refer explicitly to the binding of a particular variable rather
> 	than referring to `solutions' when explaining backtracking.

This seems fine to me.

> tutorial/hello-world.m4:
> 	Remove a rogue LIBSECio. It was causing a number to appear at the
> 	start of a line where it wasn't needed.

Yep.

> tutorial/sums-n-things.m4:
> 	Clarify that the integer *type* is built in, but the operations on
> 	integers aren't.

>  calculate with numbers.  MERCURY is unusual in that you actually have
>  to import the module that defines the basic integer operations,
> -whereas in most languages they are built in.  There are good reasons
> +whereas in most languages they are built in.  
> +Although the integer type is built in, but the basic operations 
> +that act upon them (eg. TT(+), TT(-)) are not.
> +There are good reasons
>  for this, but this tutorial is probably not the place to discuss them.
>  So just trust us.

How about changing the text to the following:

  calculate with numbers.  MERCURY is unusual in that, whereas the
  TT(int) type is built in, you actually have
  to import the module that defines the basic integer operations,

I think it reads better.

> 	Make the names of some variables consistent.

Yep.

> tutorial/types-n-things.m4:
> 	Fix a typo.

Yep.

-- 
Ralph Becket  |  rwab1 at cam.sri.com  |  http://www.cam.sri.com/people/becket.html
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