Re: [MacPerl] MPPE Mailing list

[Bruce Van Allen <bva@cruzio.com>]

Vicki Brown wrote:

[reasoning for dividing the original MacPerl list into cgi, porters, 
forum, etc]

[statistics on numbers subscribing to the various lists]

>This indicates that not everyone is subscribed to every list and 
>that apparently a third of the subscriber base is not subscribed to 
>the general discussion list for whatever reason. However, roughly 
>half of the total subscribers are subscribed to more than one list. 
>(37% of all statistics are made up on the spot; someone check my 
>math :-)
>
>I don't think we have a problem. Most of the lists are fairly quiet 
>(so belonging doesn't weight down anyone's mailbox). But that's my 
>opinion (and I must admit to a certain amount of bias :-)
>
>
>About the proposed mppe list.  Reasons I think it might be nice:
>   1) specific discussion about the book for those who have the book
>   2) those who _don't_ have the book (egad! :) don't have to be bothered
>      by the discussion
>   3) it would put a lot of the discussions of examples, errata, and things
>      readers wished were different in a place where the authors and the
>      editor could get to them easily.

1. OK, my preference was always to keep one list, but when the list 
was split I subscribed to several, and I try to make sure that I know 
what list a message is from if I reply...

2. Re: mppe list: Could you say a little more about what might happen 
with comments on the book? Isn't there already an errata web page 
somewhere (the publisher's site?)? I use and recommend the book alot. 
Have found some typos, and definitely could suggest expanded 
explanations of a few topics.

The method I've learned by is primarily from the Mac::autodidact 
module, so I know my programming knowledge is uneven and 
idiosyncratic to the things I've had to master to get jobs done. For 
this reason, I highly value good books and active lists. I know I'm 
not alone in being willing to contribute to an even greater second 
edition of MPPE. Is this all (:-) you're thinking of, or might there 
be other reasons to fork this discussion to its own list?

3. One thing I observe is that the confluence of MacPerl and BBEdit 
might just be a turning point in the fate of the Mac as a technical 
machine. MP/BBE makes powerful tools accessible to large numbers of 
people who are not primarily programmers but need to do some 
programming to get the job done faster/better. Not to tie the fate of 
MacPerl to a commercial product, but by allowing users to incorporate 
Perl scripts directly into our BBEdit functionality, _and_ by making 
it even easier to program and test in MacPerl using the BBEdit 'front 
end', my own productivity has ratcheted up a few levels. (Chris's 
work on Glue offers another amazing expansion, as I suspect many on 
these lists eagerly anticipate.) How this would be treated in a 
second edition I'm not sure, but for me as a teacher looking for good 
tools to offer my motivated students, I'd love to see a chapter or an 
appendix devoted to these two sides of the BBE/MP combo. Plus sources 
for lots of MP scripts we're all writing for BBE plug-ins.

>   If it doesn't go anywhere... it didn't fly.  Is it worth a try?
>Standard subscription rules: mailto:mppe-request@macperl.org
>message BODY the word
>  subscribe

4. Oops! Is it ready yet???  I got this reply just now:

The original message was received at Tue, 13 Jul 1999 08:43:52 -0700 (PDT)
from root@mail.cruzio.com [208.226.92.37]

    ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
"|/ulem/mppe/wrapper majordomo -l mppe"
     (expanded from: <mppe-request@macperl.org>)

    ----- Transcript of session follows -----
/ulem/mppe/wrapper: not found
554 "|/ulem/mppe/wrapper majordomo -l mppe"... unknown mailer error 127

- Bruce

# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Bruce Van Allen
# bva@cruzio.com
# ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Director
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