Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!ubvax!ardent!rap
From: rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Revised RKM Manuals
Summary: some folks just hadda have it that way
Keywords: flame
Message-ID: <658@ardent.UUCP>
Date: 24 Oct 88 20:38:33 GMT
References: <oXIuwqy00VsfM0jV4J@andrew.cmu.edu> <2694@ingr.UUCP> <18@ssibbs.UUCP> <7437@well.UUCP>
Organization: Dana Computer, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 37

In article <7437@well.UUCP>, ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes:
> 	Addison-Wesley better not screw up this set of the RKM's like they
> did the last time.  I still have the original "white" copies of the RKM, and
> find them infinitely preferable to the A-W versions.
> 
> 	The primary reason for this irrational behavior is that A-W
> hopelessly screwed up the layout of the AutoDocs.  Instead of functionally
> seperating them (exec calls grouped together in one "chapter", graphics in
> another, layers in another, and so on), they alphabetized *all* the
> Kickstart functions by name and printed them, without regard to what library
> they're a part of, making it next to impossible to discover the structure of
> Kickstart.

I also keep a copy of the original white copy around and use it exclusively.

I don't know whether they'd reorganize it "back" to the way it was based on
your (and my) complaints, but as I remember, I caught SO much flack from
unix-oids once the white books were issued that I was TOLD to alphabetize
everything because once someone heard the name of a function, they insisted
that they be able to go directly alphabetically to the function and not have
to stop and figure out what KIND of function it was, going to the appropriate
Library docs to find it listed there.  We who know what a function does
don't have that problem and would (at least in my case) prefer to go to
a specific section to find the doc because I personally am likely to use
many of that locations functions if I hadda look it up in the first place.
The other thing is that the parallelism between the functions grouped as
they originally were related to the include files that defined the variables
and structures that the functions used.  That made it easier for ME to 
learn about the system in the first place.

Re the AmigaDOS includes and functions -- perhaps Nancy Raines, at C-A,
who is overseeing the upgrade effort, might consider adding an AmigaDOS.doc
file to the new edition.  The reorg though mayhaps be beyond her control.
The (shall be nameless because I don't remember who said it) folks who
demanded the full alpha reorg may still control that layout. (sigh)

Rob Peck