Dee, Please don't take offense. I am happy to help. But you caught me on a particularly bad day. I have put a huge amount of time into the documentation and the emacs code to support editing ledger files and I always looking for ways to improve it. That said, for any tool there is a minimum required level of knowledge to use the tool. I would not expect some one who cannot balance a checkbook to understand how to use ledger. And I would not feel responsible to teach that so that they could use ledger. I don't think it is appropriate to explain how to create a plain text file in the documentation any more than I am going to explain how to turn on the computer.
I am interested in your perspectives on using ledger and will be happy to walk you through some basics. The learning curve will be steep. I can only really help in the evenings after I have taken care of worm and family. On Tuesday, July 8, 2014, o1bigtenor <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 10:14 AM, Martin Blais <[email protected] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','[email protected]');>> wrote: > snip > >> >> I'm not trying to be nasty... just realistic. >> The whole point of creating a language is so that we don't have to have a >> UI. >> My advice to the original user would be: go install some other software. >> Try GnuCash, get QuickBooks, etc. >> > > I'll start with the last stuff first. > > I have tried to install GnuCash and the dependencies are legion and result > in me not having a viable installation. > Tried Quickbooks and found that to get the level of detail that I wanted I > would need to spend quite a bit of cash (IIRC I would need the 3rd or maybe > even the fourth level of software and as all of the levels are in the > software but only unlocked with greater fees I wasn't too terribly > interested besides then I would be hostage to them forever for my > information.). > > I have tried a number of other OSS programs and the skills that I would > take to install them were far beyond me and when I got the assistance of a > friend (engineer type with 30 years of Unix/Linux experience) and STILL > couldn't get things installed (with 50+ hours of time) I wasn't too > terribly impressed. Software should be installable without needing 30 years > of hacker experience to do so. > > Then I found ledger CLI - - - seemed somewhat straightforward - - - - but > until Eric stated ". . . creating and editing a plain text file . . ." > there was absolutely ZERO indication on how to start. Now if you know what > you're doing man pages (as well as the vast majority of computer software > documentation) are useful - - - if you don't (on the other hand) they don't > serve ANY USEFUL PURPOSE!! > > Something as basic as telling the user that you start with a text file and > then edit it is very very simple - - - - its not in ANY of the > documentation (I read each piece multiple times looking for a solution). > This kind of documentation reinforces my thinking that programmers should > NEVER EVER be allowed to write documentation - - - they don't know how to. > For that you need people who know nothing about your software and how to > use it. Now when you have explained what to do to such a person they will > have a way of writing the documentation - - - which ANYONE will understand. > > But then I am assuming that you (the group) actually cares about those > that would try to use the program. Comments like the last line above very > much put the lie to that idea. > > Dee > > -- > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Ledger" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','ledger-cli%[email protected]');> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Craig, Corona De Tucson, AZ enderw88.wordpress.com -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ledger" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
