[nvda-addons] Re: Developing Addons - The best way to get started?

  • From: "Damien Sykes-Pendleton" <damien@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <nvda-addons@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2016 09:49:03 +0100

Hi James and all,
Well if we're constraining ourselves to the facts, I can only really say what I have said before, in that the developer guide assumes a good working knowledge of Python and NVDA's internal workings, neither of which I feel I have enough of to really get going. However my article goes into more detail, walking you through how hard I am finding each step in the process. For instance, when I was totally new to NVDA it took me forever just to find documentation on developing addons in the first place.
I have looked into Python, both on the official language tutorial and from Learn Python the Hard Way. Although these are both good resources, they are also very extensive to the point that by the time I have read them and gone back to the developer guide, I'm trying to conceptualise everything else into Python terms rather than NVDA terms, some of which can be done but easily forgotten, or others which can't be done at all.
Then, as I have also said before, there is the vagueness of references, such as "Refer to the NVDA code documentation". I cannot find this documentation anywhere, even in the NVDA source code. Even so, I doubt I'd be able to glean much from it, since NVDA has a lot of in-depth interaction with the operating system which, when it comes to development, I know hardly anything about the workings of. This then also adds the Windows API to my reference list, and now I feel like I am on a road of information overload.
Kind regards,
Damien.
-----Original Message----- From: James Scholes
Sent: Friday, April 08, 2016 12:25 AM
To: nvda-addons@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [nvda-addons] Re: Developing Addons - The best way to get started?

Damien Sykes-Pendleton wrote:

With this in mind, I want to guide you through my thought processes as I
read the appropriate material, but I am thinking that it would exceed
the size limit for the list, so I have created an article and uploaded
it to my website. It is an HTML document in a zip file (it is not
publicly linked to on my site, nor did I want its text to be searchable
by a search engine in case there was a large gaping hole that I missed
that makes this article totally invalid).
Given that there are public archives available for the list, I think it
best not to link to it here. So for now if anyone is interested in
reading through it and perhaps going through things step by step with
me, or would be interested in helping me to create some more meaningful
resources, whether it be a tutorial or a document that points to
relevant information etc, please email me off list.

Valid or otherwise, we're all friends here and I'm sure, everybody else
on this list would join me in wanting to welcome as many new competent
add-on developers as possible.  With that in mind, you will receive a
much better response if you:

1. Try to condense whatever you have to say into the facts, as you see
them.  It is highly unlikely that whatever you have to say will be too
large for a mailing list to accept, and if it is, perhaps you should
consider cutting it down.
2. Accept that you might be wrong, which you have done, but also accept
that we are here to help those who are on the wrong track and need
pointers in the right direction.  If someone can find your list post on
Google, they will also find any help that people provide in response.
The sort of people who would read your email, which is clearly asking
for assistance and correction, but then read your article and assume it
was 100% accurate, are probably not overly logical and won't make very
good add-on writers anyway.
3. Come out and ask what you need to ask without prompting others to
jump through hoops that aren't really necessary.  This is a community,
and you'll receive far more help if we're allowed to respond as one.

Having said all that, please either post your text to the list, or a
link to it at the very least, and let us help you.
--
James Scholes
http://twitter.com/JamesScholes
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