[TW5 Learning] A "Good to Start With" list - please come with input

[Mat]

As a part of a greater "Learning TW" project (if "project" is the right word?), here is an introductory run through of the identified Concepts in TW. 

Please help to improve it - not only the factual errors that I for sure am making, but also to make it generally to make it a valuable list for newcomers.

It is intended as a "priority list" that newcomers can reference. And that we can reference newcomers to.

I have selected the "concepts" as a good starting point (...after the newcomer has read the very introductory material, and played around a bit) as opposed to, say, a listing like the Definitions or Features because learning about the Concepts is more close to mastering TW. It is also not as specific as, say, a study in FilterOperators. BTW, listings such as FilterOperators serve more as a reference than as learning material but I'm very happy to note that this list has added notes about which are the most common operators.

Apropos "Reference material" vs "Learning material"; Note that the listed comments below are intentionally NOT presented a perfect structure but instead in a semi-verbose style that convey relative importance better than a strict factual format does. This is a typical major difference between official reference material and e.g learning in a more live context. But of course, it must not be factually false.

I will update this post with your input.

A subjective Good to Start With list

Target audience:

New to TW and not particularly competent coder. (I'm limited to this audience because of my own competence on the matter. With your help I hope the target audience can widen.)

Recommended reading for beginners are marked with Beginner. Concepts with Fundamental or Useful can also be good to study but perhaps at other levels. The comments typically refer to the topic of the listed tiddler, not the tiddler itself... even if the tiddler itself probably is the best starting point for closer study.

• ColourPalettes - Advanced. Limited use (but of course the term ColorPalette and its end-use are basic)
• Commands - Advanced. Concerns the node.js version, and probably fundamental there.
• Current Tiddler - Intermediate. Useful. For the special, but frequent, case when code needs to refer to "this" tiddler
• DataTiddlers - Advanced. Probably very useful.
• Date Fields - Intermediate. Limited use. In addition to the three default fields "title","tags" and "text", you can add a date field specialized for showing dates. 
• DictionaryTiddlers - Advanced. General use. Tiddlers listing "name:value" pairs.
• Dominant Append - Advanced kink. Specific filter technique.
• ExternalImages - Beginner. Useful. Note it's a concept, not just a term for using external images.
• Filter Operators - Fundamental. The "actions" used in filters.
• Filters - Fundamental. Beginner-Advanced.
• Hard and Soft Links - Intermediate. Limited use. Refers to hard coded links vs links that are constructed.
• InfoPanel - Beginner. It's just the name for a panel you see via the toolbar. ("Toolbar", btw, is a more important Concept.)
• JSONTiddlers - Beginner. Good to know about even if you might not use right away. 
• Macros - Intermediate. "Miniprograms" to perform otherwise repetitive tasks.
• Messages - Advanced. Widgets send messages in the system to e.g trigger stuff.
• Modules - Advanced. JavaScript tiddlers.
• ModuleType - Advanced. Specific for when building modules. Unsure how to describe.
• Order of Tagged Tiddlers - Beginner. Not sure I'd classify this as a "concept", but OK.
• PermaLinks ...and PermaView - Beginner. "Permanent links", i.e the URL to open a TW with specific tiddlers open. 
• Plugins - Fundamental. Beginner to use, Intermediate with Andreas Hahns project. Consists of several tiddlers bundled into one.
• Pragma - Advanced. Special term.
• Selection Constructors - Advanced. Possibly useful to know.
• ShadowTiddlers - Advanced. But fundamental to know that it means "Plugin tiddlers" 
• SystemTags - Fundamental. The tiddler has a good rundown list not unlike this one!
• SystemTiddlers - Fundamental. Possibly defined as (?) tiddlers starting with "$:/" (or is it defined as tiddlers building up the system?)
• Tagging - Absolute beginner. Tag to categorize things.  
• TagTiddlers - Fundamental but practically just a term. (There is no official term for the "opposite", but I'd call it a "pure tag")
• TemplateTiddlers - Intermediate. Very useful if you want to reuse content.
• TextReference - Unsure of what this is/means.
• TiddlerFields - Beginner. Fundamental. The parts which make up a tiddler, e.g the title field, the text field, etc.
• TiddlerLinks - Beginner. It's the titles you can click on.
• Tiddlers - Fundamental. Beginner.
• TiddlyWiki - Shared term for TW classic and TW5
• TiddlyWiki5 - The modern version of TW. Not compatible with "TW classic" (a.k.a TW2.x)
• Title List - list of tiddler titles
• Title Selection - Term of limited use.
• Transclusion - Beginner. Fundamental. Watch another place like through a TV. 
• Variables - Intermediate. Fundamental. (I have no easy sentence to comment on this.)
• Widgets - Fundamental. Beginner/Intermediate. The "html-elements of TW".
• Wiki - Say what? Hickey?
• WikiText - Fundamental. Simplified commands in edit view for formatting text and running widgets.

BTW, that list in the tiddler Concepts would be more informative if there really was a brief description next to each item a bit like here (...but more formal). The description could be a transclusion of the summative introductory paragraph that typically exist in those tiddlers, or if they have a summary field or such. I posted a github isse.

Another proposal is a themed Hangout, dedicated to the Concepts, with Big J and the wizards talking about the concepts in a general sense. (I could pretend to NOT be an expert grandmaster hacker and ask the dumb questions, almost as if I didn't know how to code. I can be a very convincing actor in this role.)

<:-)

[Jeremy Ruston]

Hi Mat

Very interesting. A few thoughts:

* We may want to declassify some of these concepts to keep the overall number down; it's quite overwhelming at the moment.

** For example "InfoList" could perhaps be tagged "Features" instead of "Concepts", as it doesn't really introduce any new mental concepts

* We may want to separate out the "advanced" concepts, again the keep the main list reasonable

> BTW, that list in the tiddler Concepts would be more informative if there really was a brief description next to each item a bit like here (...but more formal). The description could be a transclusion of the summative introductory paragraph that typically exist in those tiddlers, or if they have a summary field or such. I posted a github isse.

I'll respond over on GitHub to the issue

> Another proposal is a themed Hangout, dedicated to the Concepts, with Big J and the wizards talking about the concepts in a general sense. (I could pretend to NOT be an expert grandmaster hacker and ask the dumb questions, almost as if I didn't know how to code. I can be a very convincing actor in this role.)

That could be a good idea. I'd certainly be interested to explore a hangout that was structured in that way.

Best wishes

Jeremy

--

Jeremy Ruston
mailto:jeremy...@gmail.com

[Mat]

* We may want to declassify some of these concepts to keep the overall number down; it's quite overwhelming at the moment.

** For example "InfoList" could perhaps be tagged "Features" instead of "Concepts", as it doesn't really introduce any new mental concepts

* We may want to separate out the "advanced" concepts, again the keep the main list reasonable

Keeping the number down may be a good idea generally to not overwhelm people but, of course, from this lists point of view it is more a matter of highlighting what is worth studying or knowing about regardless of amount or of how it is categorized.

  

I'll respond over on GitHub to the issue

Looking forward to it. 

 

> Another proposal is a themed Hangout, dedicated to the Concepts,

That could be a good idea. I'd certainly be interested to explore a hangout that was structured in that way.

Great! I think it makes sense also from a reference point; In spite of Marios fantastic job with annotating the hangouts, I think it may still be a bit tricky for users to find info. I think a hangout like this would/could work more as a direct reference source.

On a related note I just created an issue concerning Marios annotations and tw.com.

BTW, have we ever tried to run a Google Doc parallel with the hangout, open for anyone to annotate in?

<:-)

[Jeremy Ruston]

Hi Mat

BTW, have we ever tried to run a Google Doc parallel with the hangout, open for anyone to annotate in?

We've talked about it but I don't think ever done it.

Something related that's crossed my mind is for me to create a tiddlyspot for each hangout with the agenda, that I live update with links etc. during the hangout. Then we could add the video embed and Mario's annotations.

A nice side effect would be that each hangout wiki would be a snapshot of the state of TiddlyWiki itself at the time of each hangout.

Best wishes

Jeremy.

 

<:-)

[Mat]

@Jeremy

 

Something related that's crossed my mind is for me to create a tiddlyspot for each hangout with the agenda, that I live update with links etc. during the hangout. Then we could add the video embed and Mario's annotations.

That would be awesome! And, we could easily embed such a google doc too. It could perhaps be set up so that it is open for editing during the hangout and then for additional comments for the public afterward, i.e then no right to edit but only to add comments. 

A nice side effect would be that each hangout wiki would be a snapshot of the state of TiddlyWiki itself at the time of each hangout.

:-) !!!

<:-)