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From: nowlin@ihu1e.UUCP (Jerry Nowlin)
Newsgroups: net.sources,net.flame
Subject: Re: Question about '<<'
Message-ID: <303@ihu1e.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Aug-84 15:24:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1e.303
Posted: Fri Aug 24 15:24:50 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Aug-84 07:37:10 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 49

.

>> This is the line:
>>
>> cat >foo.h<<'Funky!Stuff'
>>
>> What the heck does this mean ?

> UN*X is a usable  system.  Therefore  it is  complicated  (perhaps  more
> visibly than need be...).  Therefore there are and always will be things
> that seem new and arcane.  If everyone who wondered  about  something of
> this  nature  asked  about it in public -- can you imagine the glut that
> would ensue?  (Maybe it partly already has, but anyway...)
> 
> Moral:  Please  apply a bit of common sense and  research.  In this case
> you might say to  yourself,  "Looks like  something  the shell  handles.
> Hmmm...  Let's grep /usr/man/cat1/sh.1 for '<<'."  Do that, and you will
> find out all about "here" documents.
> 
> Please don't take this as a personal insult.  I'm using your question as
> an example.  Please, people, read the manuals, when they exist!
> 
> Alan Silverstein, hpfcla!ajs

Alan,

     You sound like the kind of asshole I had to put  up  with  when  I  first
started  to learn UNIX.  His favorite phrase was "read the documentation".  On
second thought, he wouldn't even read an article asking for help.

     I prefer UNIX to any other operating system I've used  and  I've  used  a
few,  but  I'd  have to say as far as documentation goes it's by far the worst
when you're trying to find information on something that  you  aren't  already
familiar with.  It's worse than using a dictionary to look up a word you don't
know how to spell.

     Unless you're afraid that imparting some of your knowledge to others will
jeopardize  your job (they might find out how easy it really is) why don't you
loosen up and help out.  Not all of us can afford the time to read Section 1.0
cover to cover.  Not everyone knows where they keep the on-line documentation,
(I've worked in places where there wasn't any) and if they knew where  it  was
how many would know to grep "/usr/man/cat1/sh.1" or "/usr/man/u_man/man1/sh.1"
or whatever the local version is called?  I appreciate the fact that you  were
trying  to  help  with  your  article but the parting shot was too much.  When
someone actually wants to know how something works instead of just how to  use
it don't discourage them by only pointing at "the manuals".

Jerry Nowlin
ihnp4!ihu1e!nowlin