Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uniwa!DIALix!metapro!bernie
From: bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc
Subject: Re: UNIX Documentation (was: '386 Unix Wars)
Keywords: unix, documentation, manual, research, index
Message-ID: <1990Dec29.045924.656@metapro.DIALix.oz.au>
Date: 29 Dec 90 04:59:24 GMT
References: <276d312d-8aecomp.unix.i386@point.UUCP> <33791527@bfmny0.BFM.COM> 	<1990Dec20.175625.17487@eci386.uucp> <357@metran.UUCP> <1990Dec28.004756.6019@eci386.uucp>
Organization: MetaPro Systems, Perth, Western Australia
Lines: 29

In <1990Dec28.004756.6019@eci386.uucp> (Greg A. Woods) writes:

>What really baffles me is that people who seem to be reasonably well
>educated have such poor research skills.  This is a very bad trend
>when more and more complex pieces of technology are being introduced
>to wider segments of society.

Me too.  What also baffles me is that so many people actually 
manage to program by "Brownian Motion".  They flip open an
unfamiliar reference manual at a likely-looking page, and
write an entire application based on their mis-conceptions.

Problems are tackled at the middle, not the start:
i.e. "how do we do this" vs "why do we do this".

Application programs are like snakes.  If you pick them up
by the head, then they can't bite you.  Pick them up
anywhere else, and it's only a matter of time before you
feel the fangs.

Some of my least-favourite applications have obviously been
developed by people with little or no understanding of the
operating environment, be it UNIX or not.  UNIX just makes
bad applications look worse.

-- 
______________________________Bernd_Felsche______________________________
Metapro Systems, 328 Albany Highway, Victoria Park Western Australia 6100
Phone: +61 9 362 9355   Fax: +61 9 472 3337   bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au