nowlin@ihu1e.UUCP (Jerry Nowlin) (08/24/84)
. >> 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
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (Berry Kercheval) (08/25/84)
This reminds me of the routine involving a beautiful woman and a 'macho dude' in a bar: MD: Wow, like you're beautiful! What's your number? BW: It's in the phone book. <BW gets up to leave> MD: But wait! What's your name? BW: That's in the phone book too. <exit> -- Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900
dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (08/25/84)
Perhaps Alan was a bit harsh in admonishing "Read the Manual!", but there is still some point to what he was trying to say. If you have a question, looking at the manual is always a good idea. But if you don't have a manual, or can't find the appropriate section (and UNIX manuals *are* sometimes hard to deal with if you haven't read them through once) try asking someone nearby. You'll probably find someone in the same office or same terminal room or same building that knows the answer. Only a few questions have answers obscure enough that you need to post them to a newsgroup which is probably read by thousands of people in order to get an answer.
ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (08/27/84)
Besides, the next question would probably be 'whatinhell is grep???'. -- "Trivia is important." Ron Christian Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif. (...ios!wjvax!ron)