World: r3wp

nevertheless, to all that think, that copying/collecting is slower 
than moving a character at a time, my result is, that the change 
x copy/part y z expression is about 2.8 times faster on my example 
x y z, than a cycle moving a character at a time.

Yes, the internal native loop inside CHANGE is faster than a loop 
run in mezzanine code, even if the loop function is itself a native.

Just a question: is there a way to let external fuctions (outside 
REBOL) be associated to a rebol word ? Could this fuction access 
REBOL values via some API ?

Yes, Giuseppe, in R2 you have struct!s and routines, in R3 you have 
extensions.

How do you create a face with VID that has a transparent backdrop?

Give it a color of NONE. (assuming what you need is that simple)

I' m probably doing something wrong, when I use a color of none I 
get a gray backdrop not a transparent one. I'm trying to answer one 
of RebolTutorials questions. 

Here's the code:

I' m probably doing something wrong, when I use a color of none I 
get a gray backdrop not a transparent one. I'm trying to answer one 
of RebolTutorials questions. 

Here's the code:

>> b-t: layout [
[    backdrop [color: none]
[    text "line 1" red
[    text "line 2" blue
[    ]
>> y-b: layout [
[    b-b: box white 728x90 effect [gradient 0x1 sky]
[    ]
>> b-t/offset: 0x0
== 0x0
>> b-b/pane: b-t
>> view y-b

IIRC, backdrop is a style, so it creates a sub-pane in the layout.

b-t/color: none

Or to do it for all of your layouts:
system/view/vid/vid-face/color: none

Thanks, Gregg and Steeve.

PeterWood, you missed the WITH keyword before [color: none] in your 
layout above, so you mistakenly set the action for the backdrop.

Thanks for pointing that out Anton. I a real beginner when it comes 
to view.


When I added with I didn't get a transparent face but I did when 
I triued Steeve's suggestion to set the color of the face to none.

Near the top of the source of LAYOUT you can see that the face (which 
is typically to become a window face) is created from VID-FACE (the 
very same one at system/view/vid/vid-face).

Any good example of using "range"? I cannot find a single example. 
For instance, the copy function can take a range [number port series 
pair]. I don't know how to specify the range. In the Core tutorial, 
to copy a range, we need to move to the particular position first 
and then do the copy. Fine. What is this 'range' about and how do 
we say it? The following don't work: 3-5, [35], 35, 3:5, 3x5. Thanks.

a: [a b c d]

copy/part a 2
== [a b]

copy/part next a 2
== [b c]

That was quick! Yet still don't get the 'range' part. I do understand 
the copy/part a 2, and the second copy/part next a 2. Maybe I don't 
understand how to interpret the API docs?

can you post a URL to what you're reading?

I am reading the documentation that comes with the REBOL Word Browser 
(Dictionary) when I downloaded rebol. (2.7).

I think I get it. I find this a misnomer. It is not a range, it should 
be "ending position". It is a range because the starting position 
is implied. (?).

I guess my brains needs to adapt to the rebol world.

yes, range is always from the current index of a series to the specified 
index

But why in the Word Browser, they use the term range? When I read 
that, I understand that I need to provide to numbers specifying the 
start and end position of the range. Do I make sense to you?

start positions are usually the current position in a series, when 
using series functions in REBOL.

I think you want range to mean two separate absolute numbers, but 
the start position has already been specified.

you can also say that it's an end-position.

Correct, and this is why I now understand. As a new comer to rebol, 
I just find that the Word Browser should not use the term 'range' 
but something else, like 'position' in its definition. Anyways, you 
answered my question that unlocks the rest of the docs for me in 
this regards.

Thanks.

A trick that you won't see from the word browser:

here: [a b c d]
there: at here 3

copy/part here there
== [a b]

I think I saw it differently with a file example:

file: %myfile.txt           copy/part file find file "."

How do you add line brakes to this altme textbox? CTRL+ENTER does 
not work.

yes, that's similar

click the pencil icon for multiline input (it really needs to be 
default)

Oh, my the rebol echosystem has a lot of little things work unexpected.

Yes, and this is where the Word Browser makes sense when it says 
that the 'range' can take number, series, port, pair etc. How does 
it work with a pair? When the copy value is a pair itself?

that would be on copying parts of an image

I'm not that far :). Are you having fun with rebol or is it part 
of your job? I find it appealing though off putting at first.

I've been working with REBOL both as job and hobby for 8 years.

I'm reading the Series chapter for the second time. I made progress! 
I find the parsing very attractive as well as r3 replacing the command 
prompt.

off putting: some parts that can be off putting for me are parts 
in REBOL 2 that are not completed, such as the GUI system (for which 
several replacements exist) and some lack of tools for debugging, 
but REBOL 3 will solve most of these problems. The rest is a joy 
to use.

It's so different and so 'free form'. I'm not interested in the GUI 
part right now - I just want to learn something new.

yes, the big disadvantage is that once you get used to REBOL, most 
other languages become painful to work with.

java/groovy background - you see how diferent rebol can be to me. 
After righting a practical script and reading the Core manual, I 
thing rebol for me could become a rather practical tool for day to 
day tasks . I will see what it takes to write larger apps with it. 
I''m curious at this time.

I'm not a Java guy, but REBOL to me feels like a language that is 
doing what Java should have been doing all along.

When you say "Java should've been doing" you're saying Java should've 
been something else than Java. It's just very different. I still 
enjoy the static nature of java and the expressiveness of groovy. 
Rebol is interesting because of its conciseness and great practicality. 
Lots of data types makes sense in this context. The multitude of 
refinements provide a great deal of syntactical help. I'll enjoy 
this trip.

if cheyenne / rsp was more involved as a modern web framework, I'd 
start using rebol for we development today.

I was think about the cross-platform aspect of Java.

thinking

Is there any web framework out there that I missed?