Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!olivea!tymix!cirrusl!sunstorm!dhesi From: dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc Subject: Re: UNIX Documentation (was: '386 Unix Wars) Keywords: unix, documentation, manual, research, index Message-ID: <2856@cirrusl.UUCP> Date: 7 Jan 91 23:05:44 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> <1990Dec29.045924.656@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> Sender: news@cirrusl.UUCP Organization: Cirrus Logic Inc. Lines: 23 >>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... By itself, this is an appropriate comment. But it completely inappropriate as a response to criticism of AT&T's poor documentation. Good research skills let a person survive better in a world of inadequate documentation. They do not justify the existence of such bad documentation. Asking the reader to read all the manuals is a silly resonse to a desire to see better indexes available. It would be like asking somebody to read more books if he complained about not being able to find a decent dictionary. In fact it is experienced users of UNIX, and those more knowledgeable in the English language, who are *more* likely to feel the need for better indexes and more comprehensive dictionaries. You will not usually find an illiterate person pining for an unabridged dictionary, and you will seldom find a person interested in only word processing wishing that the the UNIX commands, library functions, system calls, and file formats were better indexed. -- History never | Rahul Dhesi becomes obsolete. | UUCP: oliveb!cirrusl!dhesi