On Thu, Jun 04, 2009 at 04:17:43PM -0400, Robert Huff wrote: > > Wojciech Puchar writes: > > > > Well, man pages are good at formally documenting the how > > > of use, but they often are not so helpful on the why and > > > wherefor of use. > > > > for me it's exactly for this - to know how and why to use. > > It is important to understand "man" is a _reference_, not a > _tutorial_. It's great if you need to refresh your memory of the
Yes, I know. That is why some other additional for is also useful. I don't really propose changing man, but do often wish for some other form. Info does that a little, but still is often inadequate for some comprehension of the why and wherefor of something that I have never mucked with. I am not sure a 'tutorial' is it either because they tend to take a person through a couple of particular tasks using the item in question, but still not discuss much of the why and wherefor. ////jerry > "q" flag, or check for exit codes, or check the order of parameters > to the _fillintheblank() library call. But if you're trying to > figure out how to do X, or even how to do X correctly using this > object ... many of the pages can leave you with the feeling you're > stupider than you actually are. > Being a tutorial may not be what "man" was designed for. But > until there's a designated and widely promoted text-only replacement > it will be used as one. > > > Robert Huff > _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscr...@freebsd.org"
