[plt-scheme] help-desk -> plt-help, Check Syntax, and `help' in mzscheme

This looks fascinating, and I would like to try it
out.

Any idea on when this version will be reflected in the
"Download Pre-Release Software" installers
(http://pre.plt-scheme.org/installers/) page?

Benjamin L. Russell

--- Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu> wrote:

> In the SVN trunk (v3.99.0.4), the `help-desk'
> executable has been
> replaced by the `plt-help' executable, which is a
> command-line tool
> that searches the documentation and opens a browser
> to show the result.
> 
> For example,
> 
>  plt-help lambda
> 
> opens a locally generated HTML page with results
> from a search for
> "lambda".
> 
> 
> In DrScheme, Check Syntax now hyperlinks documented
> identifiers to
> their documentation. For example, if you put the
> program
> 
>  #lang scheme
>  (lambda (x) (add1 x))
> 
> and click Check Syntax, then you can right-click on
> `lambda' or `add1'
> to open the corresponding documentation. More
> generally, when you see a
> beige background when mousing over an identifier,
> then documentation is
> available via a right click.
> 
> 
> Finally, you can use the new `help' form in
> MzScheme, which is
> sensitive to the bindings in its environment. For
> example, if you start
> `mzscheme' with no command-line arguments and
> evaluate
> 
>  (help lambda)
> 
> then your browser is opened directly to the
> documentation for the
> `lambda' form. Similarly,
> 
>  (help frame% #:from scheme/gui)
> 
> takes you directly to the `frame%' documentation in
> the MrEd
> references.
> 
> If you expect to look up many MrEd bindings, you can
> import all of the
> MrEd bindings using `for-label':
> 
>  (require (for-label scheme/gui))
>  (help frame%)
>  (help menu%)
> 
> Note that `(require scheme/gui)' won't work in plain
> MzScheme, because
> the GUI run-time support is available only in MrEd.
> But `for-label'
> lets you import bindings to use with `help' without
> actually running
> the module that supplies the bindings.
> 
> There's also a #:search variant for `plt-help'-style
> searching:
> 
>  (help #:search lambda)
> 
> For more information on the `help' form, evaluate
> just `help' in
> MzScheme.
> 
> 
> This is just a taste of what we'll be able to offer
> with the new
> documentation system. Stay tuned for more.
> 
> Matthew
> 
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