ROOT/about/outline

This are just a couple of thoughts about the outline of this book. They're probably not the last words spoken about this and any suggestions and discussion will help improving it.

Style

• Since this book will become a guide, a clear structure that directs the reader from one topic to the next seems preferable.
• A good navigation template (that ideally also does the categorization) should be developed and used in all chapters.
• The book should use a deep structure for its chapters.

Content

• The book should not explain general basics of programming. (I.e. what is a "for" loop, etc.) We can assume that the reader already has some experience with object orientated programming. If not: there are good books on C++ etc. readily available on Wikibooks.
• On the other hand, we should not assume too much knowledge. Many people, especially students at my university, use ROOT as a tool to understand statistics, not to develop the ultimate super-performing data analysis application.
• The book should not focus on usage for particle physics but be general.
• Every topic should be accompanied by an example the reader can try immediately. This examples should be as simple as possible. In particular, they should be organized in a way that a reader can do them one after the other without assuming more advanced stuff.

Formatting

• Class names are typeset as code (e.g. “The TTree is an essential ROOT class.”).
• References are usually given in the Wiki-Style using <ref>Author: ''Title.'' Publisher, Year, (additional information). However, since references to the ROOT online documentation will appear very frequently and this is "stable" source. Those are the only ones linked directly inline as in “see reference [1] for more information”.

Please add more ideas or discuss the above points on the discussion page.