Liberty Basic is develeopped by Carl Gundel
Original Newsletter compiled by Alyce Watson and Brosco
Translation to HTML: Raymond Roumeas

  Brosco's Liberty Basic Newsletter - Issue #8 - June 98

 
 

**** STOP PRESS ****

Garrett's LB4All site is back up at last!!!!!

The greatest collection of LB Source code available - plus the famous LB Message Board is fully functioning.

Visit LB4ALL at:

http://www.liberty-basic.com/lb4all/lb4all.html

and the message Board at:

http://www.liberty-basic.com/lb4all/lb-board/

With Garrett's message board now fully operational the message board on my site will be used for discussion on the contents of the newsletter. I would particularly appreciate suggestions regarding content for future issues, questions about newsletter articles, etc.


In this issue:

  1. Reader Survey - Its your turn!
  2. Feedback
  3. The Lonely Programmer - Part 2
  4. Announcing SSS - Side by Side Software!


1) Reader Survey - Its your turn!

I have been writing these newsletters for 2 month's now - at over 6 hours per issue - that's approximately 50 hours of work. Its now your turn to spend 5 minutes contributing something back! I hope that's not too much to ask!

I have been trying very hard to make a newsletter that you look forward to receiving. I have varied the content from Tips and Tricks, Coding Standards, Snippets, etc. Now I need you to tell me what issues you liked, what issues were a waste of time, what you want to see in future issues, are the articles too technical, not technical enough, etc.

I'm not looking for compliments - I have broad shoulders, I want honest feedback about how useful you find the newsletter. Am I providing a useful service for YOU? Be selfish - dont tell me about how to make this good for others - tell me what YOU need.

Please post your comments to my message board at:

http://users.orac.com.au

or, if you are shy, email me direct at:

mailto:brosco@orac.net.au

There area currently over 70 subscribers to my newsletter, and I have had 1 unsubscibe. This is very encouraging, but my ego will not allow further unsubscibes - so I need your feedback NOW!


2) FEEDBACK

 

The LB group is predominantly made up of hobbiest programmers. This means that there is very little formal training and that we all learn from each other. If you have developed a program, share it with others, even if the program is of little interest, maybe some of the internal program techniques will be.

If you don't have a program to share, there is still a very important contribution that you can make. Whenever someone posts a contribution to share with others, they are looking for feedback. They need to know if it worked in your environment, was it useful to you, what else should it do, etc.? And this information is just as important from a beginner as an old-hand.


3) The Lonely programmer - part 2

A few issues back I published my first ever short story - The Lonely Programmer. Several people wrote to me thinking that I had based the the story on them. The truth is, the story was about me!!!!!

I have now overcome this this problem by always involving someone else in my development cycles. For example, with LBHelp I had Briam McKernon as my mentor. Brian gave me constant feedback as I struggled through my first major LB development - he was always giving me encouragement, suggestions, ideas, etc. With the VB to LB converter I had Tom Record as my mentor. Tom had a unique way of saying "Hey Brosco, thats neat - but have you thought about ......". During all of this I have had Alyce Watson to share ideas with, and my graphics contributions all have a Alyce thumbprint somewhere in them. The last couple of newsletters were based on developing a LB Notepad clone - and that was a joint Alyce and Brosco development.

Finding a partner to work with you for a development project is not easy. But when you find someone who has the same enthusiasm for the project as you, it is amazing how much you lift your your standards. You try that little bit harder to get it right. Added to this is their ideas and suggestions - and suddenly you have built an application way above your own expectations.

Each of the 3 people mentioned above have had days when they received 2 or 3 new versions of my programs in the same day. But instead of getting annoyed with me, they just came back with more enthusiasm. OK, I didnt get that '3am Eureka' feeling, because each person contributed enough back that it wasn't necessary. More importantly, when I posted the end result - I knew it was good - and thats a feeling that lasts a lot longer!


4) Announcing SSS - Side by Side Software!

 

Alyce and I share a lot of development lately so we have started a joint webpage called 'Side by Side Software' (SSS). Our first contribution posted on this site is LB Wordpad - an extension of LB Notepad.

LB Wordpad is FEEDBACKWARE!!!!!

The software is available as a TKN file. The source will be made available on request PROVIDING that the request is accompanied by FEEDBACK about the product - what's good, what's bad - suggestions, comments, etc. You can access SSS from my site:

    http://users.orac.net.au/~brosco
 

Newsletter written by: Brosco. Comments, requests or corrections to: brosco@orac.net.au Translated from Australian to English by an American: Alyce Watson. Thanks Alyce.