[kepler-dev] Feedback on Actor Documentation Errors

[Matthew Jones]

Thanks, Glen.  In addition, for Kepler much of the actor documentation 
has been rewritten with an emphasis on scientists as a target audience. 
  Kirsten is going through another pass at this as we speak, so please 
be sure to send any errors you find to Kepler-dev as well, as some of 
the documentation you find in Kepler will not be present in ptolemy. 
I'll cc Kirsten so that she knows about this issue.

Thanks,

Matt

PS Kirsten -- are you signed up for kepler-dev at ecoinformatics.org so 
that you see these emails directly?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matthew B. Jones
jones at nceas.ucsb.edu                Ph: 541-888-2581 ext. 287
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
UC Santa Barbara
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecoinformatics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Christopher Brooks wrote:
> Hi Glen,
> Thanks, I've gone ahead and fixed that typo.  
> Please let us know as you find typos in the Ptolemy and Kepler classes.
> 
> You could send the Ptolemy class typos to me directly, but it is
> probably worth cc'ing kepler-dev so that the devs know that it is
> important to spel korectly.  (Sorry)
> 
> I spend a certain amount of time fixing spelling errors, but syntax
> problems will sneak through, so it is great to have a fresh set of
> eyes.
> 
> 
> _Christopher
> --------
> 
>     I have only recently joined this list (about two weeks ago). And, I've  
>     been going through the Getting Started guide and will give feedback to  
>     Kirsten (I'm about four days behind getting this done when I said).
>     
>     Anyhow, after going over this in much more detail, I noticed that some  
>     documentation in the Actor's have small typos. I recognize this is a  
>     separate issue than the Getting Started Guide (which I hope to finish  
>     tonight/tomorrow).
>     
>     Where do I report documentation errors in actors. For example, here is  
>     an error I found in Exec (ptolemy.actor.lib.Exec). Actor is found in  
>     Components | General Purpose | Unix Command | Command Line Exec. The  
>     author is Christopher Hylands Brooks and Contributor is Edward A. Lee.
>     
>     Notice that the words "get the" are repeated twice in error in the  
>     second sentence:
>     
>     Execute a command as a separately running subprocess. A command is a  
>     single executable. To get the get the effect of executing a command  
>     provided in a shell interpreter, you can set command to "cmd"  
>     (Windows) or "sh" (Windows with Cygwin or Linux), and then provide  
>     commands at the input port. Note that each command must be terminated  
>     with a newline. For example, to open a model in vergil and run it, you  
>     can set command to "sh" and use a Const actor to provide on the input  
>     port the string:
>       "vergil -run model.xml\n exit\n"
>     
>     This actor uses java.lang.Runtime.exec() to invoke a subprocess named  
>     by the command parameter in a directory with an environment. Data from  
>     the input port (if any) is passed to the input of the subprocess. The  
>     subprocess is run until it exits and then contents of the output and  
>     error streams of the subprocess (if any) are passed to the output and  
>     error ports.
>     If the subprocess generates no data on the output or error stream,  
>     then the data on the corresponding port(s) will consist of the empty  
>     string.
>     A much more interesting actor could be written using a Kahn Process  
>     Network. This actor would generate output asynchronously as the  
>     process was executing.
>     Currently, there appears to be no way to get the subprocess to exit by  
>     passing it input. For example, if the command is set to the cat  
>     command, and we pass in a Const with the value \04, then the cat  
>     subprocess does not interpret this as the end of file marker and exit.
>     For information about Runtime.exec(), see:
>     http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html
>     and
>     http://mindprod.com/jgloss/exec.html
>     
>     
>     
>     Warmest Regards,
>     
>     
>     Glen Jarvis
>     -- 
>     913-486-8775
>     glen at glenjarvis.com
>     http://www.glenjarvis.com
>     
>     "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -M. Gandhi
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