[racket-dev] Fwd: [racket-bug] all/12642: #lang slideshow gets error message "module: this function is not defined"

The below email transcript indicates that we're still having problems
communicating how to use the language dialog to users.  Maybe a
screenshot in the "Quick" tutorial would help, although I think the
only real solution is to move to using #lang for everything.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roger Tobie <rtobie at verizon.net>
Date: Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 10:18 PM
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/12642: #lang slideshow gets error
message "module: this function is not defined"
To: Sam Tobin-Hochstadt <samth at ccs.neu.edu>


Good evening,

Yes, it works. Thank you!

However, I would argue that the signifigance of the the top bullet
item in the pop up Choose Language menu is not at all obvious to a
newbie such as myself. Perhaps the directions in "Quick: An
Introduction to Racket with Pictures" could include an explanation of
the requirement of this choice and say something to the effect that
before you type in #lang slideshow you must choose "Use the language
declared in the source" in the dialog box. This was not clear to me
from the directions given in the introduction. Also the statement
#lang slideshow has to replace what is automatically generated by
choosing the bullet for "Use the language in the source". It can't be
typed below it or you get another error message when you click on Run,
although the new error message is pretty self explanatory.

Again, thank you
Roger Tobie


On 3/20/2012 6:21 PM, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt wrote:
>
> On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 6:14 PM, Roger Tobie<rtobie at verizon.net>  wrote:
>>
>> On 3/19/2012 7:22 PM, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 6:44 PM,<rtobie at verizon.net>  wrote:
>>
>> *** Description:
>> Load and start DrRacket. Then following the instructions in Quick: An
>> Introduction to Racket with Pictures under step 2 Set... Copy the following
>> into the definitions area  #lang slideshow Then click the Run button.
>> I did this and get the message "module: this function is not defined" in the
>> interactions area. This is pretty frustratting to someone just trying
>> to get started with Racket.
>>
>> Right below that paragraph is the following discussion of setting up
>> DrRacket to use the language declared in the source:
>>
>>    If you’ve used DrRacket before, you might need to reset DrRacket
>>    to use the language declared in the source via the
>>    Language|Choose Language... menu item before clicking Run.
>>
>> If you follow those instructions, does the error go away?
>>
>> Hello, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt,
>>
>> Thank you for your prompt reply.
>>
>> No, the error does not go away. I have followed the above instructions and
>> tried all the the entries under Teaching Languages / How to design programs
>> with the same result. I had done this many times before I sent my bug report
>> and just repeated these tests to make doubly sure. It is interesting that
>> Pretty Big under Legacy Languages does not give this error message when I
>> tell it to run #lang slideshow, but then when I type in and try to execute
>> (circle 10) I get "reference to undefined identifier: circle".
>>
>> Also, I am not sure exactly what is meant by the phrase "reset DrRacket to
>> use the language declared in the source". What source?
>
> In the "Language" dialog, please choose the "Use the language declared
> in the source" option, which is at the top of the dialog box.  Then
> see if the program works.
>
>




-- 
sam th
samth at ccs.neu.edu