On 04/24/2013 09:14 AM, scott wrote:
>> SDL follows other programming languages fairly closely in that fopen (in
>> this case) returns a /pointer/ to the variable FILE_HANDLE_IDENTIFIER
>> ... here's a php example to illustrate what I'm talking about:
>
> Anyone who has experience with handling files in any other programming
> or scripting language should not have a problem. The issue is with
> people who don't have any previous experience, where SDL is their first
> encounter of such concepts. It's sometimes hard for people with vast
> amounts of experience to imagine how those with no experience might
> interpret such documentation.
>
> Anyway the real question is should the POV documentation assume at least
> a basic knowledge of how file IO works in other languages? If yes, it
> should probably state this at the start of the section (and perhaps a
> useful link for those without such experience), or if no then it should
> explain the concept of a file handle and how it is used (surely can't
> take more than a paragraph or two).
>

I think the fopen directive (the paragraph after the syntax diagram) 
explains the concept adequately, however I'll admit the inconsistent 
usage of IDENTIFIER /instead/ of FILE_HANDLE_IDENTIFIER as the following 
examples use ... is perhaps the true root of the misunderstanding.

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