[nycbug-talk] From Dru's blog

[Marc Spitzer]

On Nov 9, 2007 9:06 AM, George Rosamond <george at ceetonetechnology.com> wrote:
> a new BSD print magazine:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2wdsgu
>
> Sounds interesting.
>
> While I see their point about the goal of how-to's/tutorials, I think
> they're a bit dismissive of the man pages.
>

As others have said, and I do agree with, the article is dismissive of
man pages.  I think that the reason for this is over exposure to linux
instead of unix of what ever flavor.  I do remember that the man pages
in linux used to come with a disclaimer that they are not updated with
the system and please go read the how-to or something else.  And that
is not the case in the BSDs.  Now  with that said, hmm as I get older
I sound more pompous oh well, they were never intended as   tutorials
on tasks but as accurate reference material for specific programs.
Now both are needed and depending on where you are in the continuum
from novice to expert one will be using one set of documents more then
the other.  Now many of us are in the "I know how to do it camp" and
for us the man pages are great because it tells us how to *implement*
our plan, ie I need to use that command switch or I need the input
file to look like this and the list goes on.  The other thing man
pages are good for is answering the question "what is it?".  Now if
you are trying to accomplish tasks with this tool and you are not sure
how to do the task then tutorials are very handy.   And magazines are
a great place for them, as they help sell adds.

marc


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