@patrick, @bravenel
Since I didn't see a thread for this I thought I would start one.
I love reading through Bruce's narratives describing a solution to someone's Rule Machine question. I find myself nodding as I follow along and everything feels logical and understandable. Then I go to work on my own automation problem and I experience a total disconnect. I don't know why that is. Perhaps it is because I can't visualize the bits and pieces or the logic on how they fit together. I do have more than a dozen rules, so I have managed to stumble on some solutions. Why can't I "see" my way around.
What is strange, in my home projects I am constantly adapting things to solve some unique-ish problem. My brain races through the myriad things I have encountered in my life, fitting them together, turning, twisting, discarding until I have what I need. I usually build and rebuild these things mentally over and over again until I work through the final details. In my professional life, I have no problem troubleshooting complex computer and networking issues almost to the point of visualizing the electrons flowing.
I think we all learn things differently and understand things differently at differing levels as well. If we look at the Rule Machine docs, we are presented with a list of things in our automation "pantry". With a community Rule snapshot as a recipe, most of us are amateur cooks, able to sometimes concoct something that isn't terrible. A professional cook is able to work quickly and put together a more consistent outcome. A chef, as in Bruce and likely all of you HE folks, looks through the pantry and can envision the flavor interactions and given an event, craft the perfect feast.
I would love to see episodes where one of you take a realistic scenario through some narrative; to building the logic; through whiteboarding; to the various way to solve the rule; to the completed rule. Perhaps these scenarios could come from suggestions. Hopefully, something like this would help people to connect the logic to the bits. I know it would help me.
