UNIX Documentation (was: '386 Unix Wars)

[Anton Aylward]

Greg Woods is right, you do have to read, completely and thoroughly.
This applies just as much to DOS, VMS or MVS or CICS!
[I won't tell you which of those abortions I was forced to use,
 but I did read completely and throughly.]

I leant UNIX in 2 weeks back in '78 by reading the manuals.
For two weeks solid.  I tried out all the examaples, and some permutations.
Back then there were none of the books Greg mentioned, except the K&R.
Yes, Vol 2 was essential.
The Yellow book (BSTJ 57/6/II) was also useful.
BTW, the two weeks were 20 hour days.

The reading was over, and over, and over!
When I came to use of the abortions mentioned above,
I barely go through all the documentation in a month.
Even so, I only had a vague idea what was going on,
and had to experiment, then give up and write a front-end 
that 'emulated' STDIO, i.e. map to a structure that was simple,
regular and comprehensible.


UNIX is S,R&C.  The other systems are not simple or regular:

	DOS:   LPT1:   is just one name for the printer, but there is no
			guarentee its there and not LPT2:
		
	"echo hello >LPT1:"
		make sense
	"echo hello >A:"
		doesn't make sense, even though the syntax is the same.

	UNIX:

	"echo hello >/dev/lp"
	"echo hello >/dev/fd"

		regular, eh ?

OK, we're all cogniscent of this.  

Indexes:  creating them is an art form.   using them is an art.
Don't complain about the UNIX KWIK Index unless you are proven 
proficient in using some other major index system, that is, 
don't ctiticise unless you have an alternative to offer, 
or in the venacular, "Lead, Follow or get out of the way".

/anton aylward			A.S.C.I.
				12 years with UNIX.
-- 
           ____   __________
          /   /   /        |                       |  Anton J Aylward
         /   /   /         |       Analysis        |
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