maemo.org - Talk - QT & Phonon

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielwilms (Post 561211)

you have already for the beta a complete overview of all classes,

That overview of classes is unmanageable for reference, because it is merely a huge list, not organized by function.

Those of us used to reference materials for programming would expect to at least find such a guide broken down by typical function:
Process Control
xxx
xxx

File Manipulation
xxx
xxx

Time
xxx
xxx

Search & Sort
xxx
xxx

Graphics
xxx
xxx

Instead of a monolithic list of everything that must be gone through one by one until what you're looking for is found.

Additionally, on that list of classes is
QSound
which, according to ANOTHER random page you are lucky to find scattered somewhere else, does not actually work in Maemo 5
http://doc.qt.nokia.com/qt-maemo-4.6...es-maemo5.html

Those are the 2 examples of how it is so excruciatingly difficult for programmers coming to the N900/QT/Maemo to even get a start:
1. No organized reference
2. What information DOES exist is partial, scattered & fragmented across the whole spectrum of related sites of maemo.org, nokia.org, gitorious, etc.

I can understand how it would be easier for folks writing derivative programs to by legacy become more proficient via re-use of existing & available code, albeit slowly.

In this chaos, there is not even a place explaining the differences of
Nokia SDK
QT SDK
QT Creator
etc.

How can it be expected that a programmer coming to the phone/OS can select which to use? Or even to find out what exists for use, since pages listing one or two things don't list all.

There is nothing which I have found yet which briefly explains the developer tools on one page, explaining the use of Mad Developer, Scratchbox, Busy Box, the different SDK's, etc. Instead, there are scores of pages with download links to one or the other, with brief smiling descriptions of little more than PR saying that they're great, they speed development, they're feature-rich - all useless words for people seeking to learn the functionality & place in the system.

Going back to phonon, where IS an overview page for it? The package overview page http://maemo.org/packages/view/libqt...o5-phonon-dbg/
only seems to give the impression that the package has been removed. If the community has its own, non-intuitive, rejecting of typical use layout for such a page and has created a page that gives the impression that the package is no longer available when it is by reading it in some way known only to those who watched the page grow from nothing, why is it impossible now to see how not merely uneffective but destructive it is?

And where is a functional description of the phonon package's particular uses? Even the most basic book of reference will give examples of implementation, but here there seems to not even be a list! Is it neccessary to go through every line of the source code to find a function/object that suits the use you need? Anyone who's been on the QT/Maemo wild goose chase before is very much disinclined to "just google" and come up with reams of time-wasting pages with matches that don't have simple reference.

There is my rant again. It is so hard to pull up coherent, useful reference & instructional information for programming this phone. It is like it is intentionally sabotaged, so people won't do it.

And the defensiveness of replies of "The information is out there, just find it with google or somewhere buried in nokia.com" is not just functionally ridiculous, it is apparently wrong. Much of the information is NOT out there, & the part that is being so scattered & disorganized makes it not just impractical, but a waste of time.

Disagreeing with Hadrien's observation that documentation is scant & chaotic by saying

Quote:

Giving out tech previews and keeping you up-to-date on the latest tools, giving you support directly of the developers, which are working on this, who look into packages and help people setting up their environment etc., proofs you wrong in my opinion

seems to indicate being oblivious to the problem or trying to conceal it. Tech previews and tool updates are not reference & documentation. The possibility of (maybe) getting support from the developers for PARTICULAR problems is not reference for developers, it is troubleshooting. Those are just MORE discrete, small, incomplete, noncomprehensive unspecialized fragments scattered across the internet. It is NOT proof that easily found & organized documentation and reference are lacking, it is IGNORING it.

I have NEVER seen such lack of documentation or organized reference for ANY technical thing.