I have written an OpenSCAD Instructable.  I teach a class at Tampa
Hackerspace called "OpenSCAD Introduction".  I have a different take on the
OpenSCAD syntax.  I have found that my approach is very useful in getting
people to "grok" OpenSCAD.

Heck, it even helps me "grok" OpenSCAD.  With this model in my head I know
what is going to happen in my code.  Particularly with the variables and
control blocks.

I thought I would share it with the OpenSCAD community and see what you
think.

http://www.instructables.com/id/OpenSCAD-The-Instructable/
http://www.instructables.com/id/OpenSCAD-The-Instructable/

Steve

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That's quite a good intro.

I'd suggest it is focused on people who have some coding background as you
are using concepts that the average Joe would not be familiar. You may want
to have a disclaimer at the start saying it is intended for people with some
experience. ??

You may want to include vectors in the very early section, you use them
without explaining them until mid way. Explain that the [x,y,x] is just one
case of a vector.

Also some mention that 2D and 3D and two different contexts and shouldn't be
mixed.

The concept of a tree structure is a good way to explain the if/else and for
loops, showing that they are not loops, but an unwinding into a tree
structure, each node defines the scope and hence is why they can each have
different values of i, for example.

Maybe use trees to indicate why a=a+1; doesn't make sense in OpenSCAD,
hammering that out of procedural programmers is a key to grokking it.

Thanks for sharing the shell() module, that will be handy, I hadn't thought
of doing hollows that way. The text() shim is also a nice idea.

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@MichaelAtOz,
Thanks for the input.  The shell surrounds a shape with a shell that is
thickness greater.  The outside dimensions increase by thickness.

The attached file hollows out a shape leaving a wall of thickness.  The
outside dimensions remain the same.

hollow.scad http://forum.openscad.org/file/n13205/hollow.scad

BTW, a sphere in the minkowski gives a truer offset but can be v e r y  s l
o w.

Steve

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Thanks for that too. It doesn't preview very well tho.

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Tim,
There should be links to the code itself.  One can download it and follow
along in OpenSCAD itself.

Is there a link I have missed? I have links to

Transformations.scad
CSG_Tree.scad
Hull.scad
Minkowski.scad
shell.scad
minkowski_text.scad
scope.scad

I don't think a show a picture of code that is not in one of those files.

I want the reader to understand the power of the "!" modifier.  It is not
only useful for understanding how solids move through the tree. It is very
useful for understanding other people's code.  I feel compelled here to give
a shout out to one of my heroes, Nophead.  I have analyzed a lot of his code
using the "!" modifier.

Steve

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