tortorino@hamstr.DEC (Sandy @The Puzzle Palace, DTN 264-5977) (08/06/85)
>I've got to learn Nroff/Troff in a hurry, and I find the Nroff/Troff >User's Manual highly unenlightening. Does anyone know of a book out >there that gives a fuller explanation of the subject? Maybe with some >good, clear examples? > Terry Grevstad While watching my cousin try to assemble a high chair by following the directions, I made a remark about "unreadable documentation." Without even so much as a pause, he retorted, "That's redundant." Sandy Tortorino
wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (William Ingogly) (08/06/85)
In article <3465@decwrl.UUCP> tortorino@hamstr.DEC writes: >>I've got to learn Nroff/Troff in a hurry, and I find the Nroff/Troff >>User's Manual highly unenlightening. Does anyone know of a book out >>there that gives a fuller explanation of the subject? Maybe with some >>good, clear examples? > >> Terry Grevstad > >While watching my cousin try to assemble a high chair by following the >directions, I made a remark about "unreadable documentation." Without >even so much as a pause, he retorted, "That's redundant." Unfortunately, much software documentation is unreadable or unuseable because many technical people undervalue the importance of documentation to the user and underestimate the difficulty of producing first-rate documentation. The situation in shops that employ technical writers may or may not be better, depending on factors like salary paid to get and keep first rate technical writers and the nature of the interactions between programmers/analysts and writers. It takes considerable SKILL to produce useable, readable documentation; when is the industry going to recognize this fact? And when will technical types realize that a poorly-documented system will immediately turn a nontechnical user off, no matter how many bells and whistles the designer has included in the system? The problem with the Nroff/Troff User's Manual is that it was written by hackers for hackers. Although NO book on the market is ideal, a number of texts on UNIX can frequently be found in bookstores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. These texts provide short introductions to text processing with UNIX. For example: STARTING WITH UNIX by Brown UNDERSTANDING UNIX by Groff INTRODUCING THE UNIX SYSTEM by McGilton & Morgan THE UNIX SYSTEM by Bourne THE UNIX PRIMER by Lumoto & Lumoto THE UNIX PRIMER PLUS by Waite et. al. UNIX FOR PEOPLE by Birns et. al. I'd suggest looking in a few local bookstores to see what's available, and maybe checking at your local library to see if it has any UNIX books. -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly