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Proofreading the first and second chapters of the very well-written docs

Changes are mostly wording, rephrasing. I did remove some duplicate content between the intro and the basic usage
Ryan Weaver 13 years ago
parent
commit
903eff10eb
2 changed files with 73 additions and 61 deletions
  1. 41 21
      doc/00-intro.md
  2. 32 40
      doc/01-basic-usage.md

+ 41 - 21
doc/00-intro.md

@@ -1,23 +1,30 @@
 # Introduction
 # Introduction
 
 
 Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP. It allows you to declare
 Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP. It allows you to declare
-the dependencies of your project and will install them for you.
+the dependent libraries your project needs and it will install them in your
+project for you.
 
 
 ## Dependency management
 ## Dependency management
 
 
-One important distinction to make is that composer is not a package manager. It
-deals with packages, but it manages them on a per-project basis. By default it
-will never install anything globally. Thus, it is a dependency manager.
+Composer is not a package manager. Yes, it deals with "packages" or libraries, but
+it manages them on a per-project basis, installing them in a directory (e.g. `vendor`)
+inside your project. By default it will never install anything globally. Thus,
+it is a dependency manager.
 
 
-This idea is not new by any means. Composer is strongly inspired by
-node's [npm](http://npmjs.org/) and ruby's [bundler](http://gembundler.com/).
-But there has not been such a tool for PHP so far.
+This idea is not new and Composer is strongly inspired by node's [npm](http://npmjs.org/)
+and ruby's [bundler](http://gembundler.com/). But there has not been such a tool
+for PHP.
 
 
-The problem that composer solves is the following. You have a project that
-depends on a number of libraries. Some of those libraries have dependencies of
-their own. You declare the things you depend on. Composer will then go ahead
-and find out which versions of which packages need to be installed, and
-install them.
+The problem that composer solves is this:
+
+a) You have a project that depends on a number of libraries.
+
+b) Some of those libraries depend on other libraries .
+
+c) You declare the things you depend on
+
+d) Composer finds out which versions of which packages need to be installed, and
+   install them (meaning it downloads them into your project).
 
 
 ## Declaring dependencies
 ## Declaring dependencies
 
 
@@ -32,37 +39,50 @@ which describes the project's dependencies.
         }
         }
     }
     }
 
 
-We are simply stating that our project requires the `monolog/monolog` package,
+We are simply stating that our project requires some `monolog/monolog` package,
 any version beginning with `1.0`.
 any version beginning with `1.0`.
 
 
 ## Installation
 ## Installation
 
 
-To actually get it, we need to do two things. The first one is installing
-composer:
+### 1) Downloading the Composer Executable
+
+To actually get Composer, we need to do two things. The first one is installing
+composer (again, this mean downloading it into your project):
 
 
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php
 
 
 This will just check a few PHP settings and then download `composer.phar` to
 This will just check a few PHP settings and then download `composer.phar` to
-your working directory. This file is the composer binary.
+your working directory. This file is the composer binary. It is a PHAR (PHP
+archive), which is an archive format for PHP which can be run on the command
+line, amongst other things.
 
 
 You can install composer to a specific directory by using the `--install-dir`
 You can install composer to a specific directory by using the `--install-dir`
 option and providing a target directory (it can be an absolute or relative path):
 option and providing a target directory (it can be an absolute or relative path):
 
 
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=bin
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=bin
 
 
-After that we run the command for installing all dependencies:
+You can place this file anywhere you wish. If you put it in your `PATH`,
+you can access it globally. On unixy systems you can even make it
+executable and invoke it without `php`.
+
+### 2) Using Composer
+
+Next, run the command the `install` command to calculate and download dependencies:
 
 
     $ php composer.phar install
     $ php composer.phar install
 
 
-This will download monolog and dump it into `vendor/monolog/monolog`.
+This will download monolog into the `vendor/monolog/monolog` directory.
 
 
 ## Autoloading
 ## Autoloading
 
 
-After this you can just add the following line to your bootstrap code to get
-autoloading:
+Besides download the library, Composer also prepares an autoload file that's
+capable of autoloading all of the classes in any of the libraries that it
+downloads. To use it, just add the following line to your code's bootstrap
+process:
 
 
     require 'vendor/.composer/autoload.php';
     require 'vendor/.composer/autoload.php';
 
 
-That's all it takes to have a basic setup.
+Woh! Now starting using monolog! To keep learning more about Composer, keep
+reading the "Basic Usage" chapter.
 
 
 [Basic Usage](01-basic-usage.md) →
 [Basic Usage](01-basic-usage.md) →

+ 32 - 40
doc/01-basic-usage.md

@@ -2,26 +2,11 @@
 
 
 ## Installation
 ## Installation
 
 
-To install composer, simply run this command on the command line:
+To install composer, you just need to download the `composer.phar` executable.
 
 
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php
     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php
 
 
-This will perform some checks on your environment to make sure you can
-actually run it.
-
-Then it will download `composer.phar` and place it in your working directory.
-`composer.phar` is the composer binary. It is a PHAR (PHP archive), which is
-an archive format for PHP which can be run on the command line, amongst other
-things.
-
-You can place this file anywhere you wish. If you put it in your `PATH`,
-you can access it globally. On unixy systems you can even make it
-executable and invoke it without `php`.
-
-You can install composer to a specific directory by using the `--install-dir`
-option and providing a target directory (it can be an absolute or relative path):
-
-    $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --install-dir=bin
+For the details, see the [Introduction](00-intro.md) chapter.
 
 
 To check if composer is working, just run the PHAR through `php`:
 To check if composer is working, just run the PHAR through `php`:
 
 
@@ -34,7 +19,7 @@ This should give you a list of available commands.
 >
 >
 >     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --help
 >     $ curl -s http://getcomposer.org/installer | php -- --help
 
 
-## Project setup
+## `composer.json`: Project Setup
 
 
 To start using composer in your project, all you need is a `composer.json`
 To start using composer in your project, all you need is a `composer.json`
 file. This file describes the dependencies of your project and may contain
 file. This file describes the dependencies of your project and may contain
@@ -43,6 +28,8 @@ other metadata as well.
 The [JSON format](http://json.org/) is quite easy to write. It allows you to
 The [JSON format](http://json.org/) is quite easy to write. It allows you to
 define nested structures.
 define nested structures.
 
 
+### The `require` Key
+
 The first (and often only) thing you specify in `composer.json` is the
 The first (and often only) thing you specify in `composer.json` is the
 `require` key. You're simply telling composer which packages your project
 `require` key. You're simply telling composer which packages your project
 depends on.
 depends on.
@@ -53,12 +40,13 @@ depends on.
         }
         }
     }
     }
 
 
-As you can see, `require` takes an object that maps package names to versions.
+As you can see, `require` takes an object that maps **package names(()) (e.g. `monolog/monolog`)
+to ** package versions** (e.g. `1.0.*`).
 
 
-## Package names
+### Package Names
 
 
 The package name consists of a vendor name and the project's name. Often these
 The package name consists of a vendor name and the project's name. Often these
-will be identical. The vendor name exists to prevent naming clashes. It allows
+will be identical - the vendor name just exists to prevent naming clashes. It allows
 two different people to create a library named `json`, which would then just be
 two different people to create a library named `json`, which would then just be
 named `igorw/json` and `seldaek/json`.
 named `igorw/json` and `seldaek/json`.
 
 
@@ -68,10 +56,10 @@ allows adding more related projects under the same namespace later on. If you
 are maintaining a library, this would make it really easy to split it up into
 are maintaining a library, this would make it really easy to split it up into
 smaller decoupled parts.
 smaller decoupled parts.
 
 
-## Package versions
+### Package Versions
 
 
-We are also requiring the version `1.0.*` of monolog. This means any version
-in the `1.0` development branch. It would match `1.0.0`, `1.0.2` and `1.0.20`.
+We are requiring version `1.0.*` of monolog. This means any version in the `1.0`
+development branch. It would match `1.0.0`, `1.0.2` or `1.0.20`.
 
 
 Version constraints can be specified in a few different ways.
 Version constraints can be specified in a few different ways.
 
 
@@ -80,14 +68,14 @@ Version constraints can be specified in a few different ways.
 
 
 * **Range:** By using comparison operators you can specify ranges of valid
 * **Range:** By using comparison operators you can specify ranges of valid
   versions. Valid operators are `>`, `>=`, `<`, `<=`. An example range would be
   versions. Valid operators are `>`, `>=`, `<`, `<=`. An example range would be
-  `>=1.0`. You can define multiple of these, separated by comma:   `>=1.0,<2.0`.
+  `>=1.0`. You can define multiple ranges, separated by a comma:   `>=1.0,<2.0`.
 
 
 * **Wildcard:** You can specify a pattern with a `*` wildcard. `1.0.*` is the
 * **Wildcard:** You can specify a pattern with a `*` wildcard. `1.0.*` is the
   equivalent of `>=1.0,<1.1-dev`.
   equivalent of `>=1.0,<1.1-dev`.
 
 
-## Installing dependencies
+## Installing Dependencies
 
 
-To fetch the defined dependencies into the local project, you simply run the
+To fetch the defined dependencies into your local project, just run the
 `install` command of `composer.phar`.
 `install` command of `composer.phar`.
 
 
     $ php composer.phar install
     $ php composer.phar install
@@ -104,29 +92,33 @@ In case of monolog it will put it into `vendor/monolog/monolog`.
 Another thing that the `install` command does is it adds a `composer.lock`
 Another thing that the `install` command does is it adds a `composer.lock`
 file into your project root.
 file into your project root.
 
 
-## Lock file
+## `composer.json` - The Lock File
 
 
 After installing the dependencies, composer writes the list of the exact
 After installing the dependencies, composer writes the list of the exact
 versions it installed into a `composer.lock` file. This locks the project
 versions it installed into a `composer.lock` file. This locks the project
 to those specific versions.
 to those specific versions.
 
 
-**Commit your project's `composer.lock` into version control.**
+**Commit your project's `composer.lock` (along with `composer.json`) into version control.**
+
+This is important because the `install` command checks if a lock file is present,
+and if it is, it downloads the versions specified there (regardless of what `composer.json`
+says). This means that anyone who sets up the project will download the exact
+same version of the dependencies. 
 
 
-The reason is that anyone who sets up the project should get the same version.
-The `install` command will check if a lock file is present. If it is, it will
-use the versions specified there. If not, it will resolve the dependencies and
-create a lock file.
+If no `composer.json` lock file exists, it will read the dependencies and
+versions from `composer.json` and  create the lock file.
 
 
-If any of the dependencies gets a new version, you can update to that version
-by using the `update` command. This will fetch the latest matching versions and
-also update the lock file.
+This means that if any of the dependencies gets a new version, you won't be updated
+automatically. To update to the new version, use `update` command. This will fetch
+the latest matching versions (according to your `composer.json` file) and also update
+the lock file with the new version.
 
 
     $ php composer.phar update
     $ php composer.phar update
 
 
 ## Packagist
 ## Packagist
 
 
 [Packagist](http://packagist.org/) is the main composer repository. A composer
 [Packagist](http://packagist.org/) is the main composer repository. A composer
-repository is basically a package source. A place where you can get packages
+repository is basically a package source: a place where you can get packages
 from. Packagist aims to be the central repository that everybody uses. This
 from. Packagist aims to be the central repository that everybody uses. This
 means that you can automatically `require` any package that is available
 means that you can automatically `require` any package that is available
 there.
 there.
@@ -135,7 +127,8 @@ If you go to the [packagist website](http://packagist.org/) (packagist.org),
 you can browse and search for packages.
 you can browse and search for packages.
 
 
 Any open source project using composer should publish their packages on
 Any open source project using composer should publish their packages on
-packagist.
+packagist. A library doesn't need to be on packagist to be used by composer,
+but it makes life quite a bit simpler.
 
 
 ## Autoloading
 ## Autoloading
 
 
@@ -146,8 +139,7 @@ this file and you will get autoloading for free.
 
 
     require 'vendor/.composer/autoload.php';
     require 'vendor/.composer/autoload.php';
 
 
-This makes it really easy to use third party code, because you only
-have to add one line to `composer.json` and run `install`. For monolog, it
+This makes it really easy to use third party code: For monolog, it
 means that we can just start using classes from it, and they will be
 means that we can just start using classes from it, and they will be
 autoloaded.
 autoloaded.