Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site oddjob.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!oddjob!sra From: sra@oddjob.UUCP (Scott R. Anderson) Newsgroups: net.followup,net.news.group Subject: Re: Re: net.doc Message-ID: <1019@oddjob.UUCP> Date: Tue, 29-Oct-85 10:50:57 EST Article-I.D.: oddjob.1019 Posted: Tue Oct 29 10:50:57 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 06:48:33 EST References: <96@tekadg.UUCP> <2850@pesnta.UUCP> <354@ihdev.UUCP> <1011@oddjob.UUCP> <267@yetti.UUCP> Reply-To: sra@oddjob.UUCP (Scott R. Anderson) Organization: University of Chicago, Department of Physics Lines: 36 Xref: watmath net.followup:5387 net.news.group:4069 Summary: In article <267@yetti.UUCP> peter@yetti.UUCP (Runge) writes: >> I agree with Peter that "man -k" is extremely useful; much more useful than >> a VMS-style "help" command, which depends on a command name's ability to >> convey the gist of the command's function (which, of course, would not work >> with UNIX command names, and often does not with VMS command names). > >There's a lot of unintentional humor in this comparison. The percentage of >meaningful VMS commands relative to the total set is far higher than for >UNIX (the only meaningful Unix command I can remember off-hand is yes :-)), I do not deny that VMS command names are generally more meaningful than UNIX command names, but that doesn't make help easier to use than man -k. They are both keyword-oriented, but with help you have a user trying to sift through a screen-full of keywords (some of which ARE meaningless in their generality -- set and analyze come to mind) to possibly find the one you are thinking of. With man -k, the program does the sifting for you, and through a much larger data base, the command descriptions. The latter are going to have a better set of meaningful keywords (assuming they are well-written) since they are not limited to being one keyword per command. >and man -k is notorious for its inability to find anything appropriate. How often does your brain flash "Nothing appropriate" when you are using VMS help? (:-) >For one thing, on our 780, asking for a man file to be >retrieved and formatted is something you do before leaving your office for >a coffee or a washroom break. Get your system manager to set up the 'cat' version of the manuals. They take up about 3 MB of disk space, but are much faster than the unformatted versions. Scott Anderson ihnp4!oddjob!kaos!sra