RDoc & other questions...

[GGarramuno]

1) Is there any document describing the syntax and rules that rdoc
uses?

2) Is it possible to place the rdoc documentation at the end of the
file (after __END__) as in perl? This is for two reasons: a) speed up
ruby's compilation of it by not having it parse useless docs and b)
helping the programmer not be swamped when docs are several pages
long.

3) Are there any rules or distribution guidelines for releasing Ruby
modules on the net? (Test suites, directory organization, etc). Any
info appreciated.

PS. My port of Perl's Getopt:eclare is close to being done. I will
put it on rubyforge when I'm done. Thanks to all who helped me along
the way. I've fallen in love with ruby. Matz and all have written
one of the most beautiful languages I had the pleasure of working
with.

PS2. I work in the computer graphics industry, and as such, as a next
project, I'd like to upgrade ruby's Matrix library which is somewhat
poor, imo. I'd like to plug in a better C++ Matrix/Vector library
from the net. I want to become more familiar with ruby's internals,
in the process, too. So any additional references on doing so would
be useful, too. If there is a way to expose C++ templates to ruby,
I'd love to hear it, as that would certainly expand the libraries to
be able to choose from.

 

[Dave Thomas]

1) Is there any document describing the syntax and rules that rdoc
uses?

The README that comes with it has a fair amount of information.
Anything else, just ask.

2) Is it possible to place the rdoc documentation at the end of the
file (after __END__) as in perl? This is for two reasons: a) speed up
ruby's compilation of it by not having it parse useless docs and b)
helping the programmer not be swamped when docs are several pages
long.

Not really, because a lot of the motivation for RDoc is that it picks
up information from the source as well as the comments. In fact, you
can feed it a class with no documentation whatsoever and it can come
back with something useful.

However, you can always put your documentation in a separate file, and
then either

1. Just include that file in the documentation run, or

2. use

:include: <filename>

to bring the documentation into the main source file


Cheers

Dave

 

[GGarramuno]

The README that comes with it has a fair amount of information.
Anything else, just ask.

Yes, thanks. Just got it. Is it possible the ruby1.8 standard
distribution missing this README or is it in some strange place? I
did find the README when I downloaded the standalone of rdoc only.

 

[Dave Thomas]

Yes, thanks. Just got it. Is it possible the ruby1.8 standard
distribution missing this README or is it in some strange place? I
did find the README when I downloaded the standalone of rdoc only.

In the CVS tree, it's at lib/rdoc/README.


Cheers

Dave

 

[GGarramuno]

The README that comes with it has a fair amount of information.
Anything else, just ask.

Okay. Here it goes...

1) Is it possible to create html links to text within the same page?
For example, have some text that says, for example "(see BUGS)" and
clicking on it will take you to that part of the docs.

2) Is it possible to have a tag that keeps a whole string together?
For example, say a pathname, that you don't want to have it be split
into multiple lines, regardless of how big/small the browser is.

3) Is it possible to use smaller fonts? The default docs seem to be
using some huge fonts.

 

[Dave Thomas]

1) Is it possible to create html links to text within the same page?
For example, have some text that says, for example "(see BUGS)" and
clicking on it will take you to that part of the docs.

If BUGS is the name of a class or module, this happens automatically.
Otherwise, no, there's currently no way to hyperlink. Is this a feature
a lot of people want?

2) Is it possible to have a tag that keeps a whole string together?
For example, say a pathname, that you don't want to have it be split
into multiple lines, regardless of how big/small the browser is.

There's no equivalent of the non-breaking space. Is that what you're
looking for, or am I misunderstanding?

3) Is it possible to use smaller fonts? The default docs seem to be
using some huge fonts.

You can use your own stylesheets with the --style option to RDoc.


Cheers

Dave