unix help routines

[Chris Torek]

In article <195 at cidam.oz> mg at cidam.oz (Mike A. Gigante) writes:
>The keyword entries are also *woefully* inadequate.  Just try `man -k files`,
>and you'll see what I mean (no mention of many important commands that deal
>with files)

The existing key words may be (and I think are) inadequate, but
you have chosen a bad example.  Most---I would say more than half
at the very least---of the Unix commands can deal directly with
files in some way or another (other than by redirection); so if
the `files' keyword accessed all of these, one would be drowned in
the flood of information.

What would, of course, be ideal is a truly intelligent help system;
but it is hard enough even for people (whose intelligence we agree
upon, at least for the most part) to provide `good' help in some
cases.  There is often a communication barrier:

	Troublemaker: `Unix doesn't work'.
	Helper: `What seems to be the problem?'
	T: `It says "error".  It used to work.'
	H: `*What* says "error"?'
	T: `My program.'
	...

(I imagine you get the idea.  This is all too familiar to some.)

In the mean time, I myself find the Unix Programmer's Manuals mostly
sufficient for my own use (and better than VMS HELP, though that
is no doubt due to my own unfamiliarity with the latter: I have
used it perhaps thrice).  An `Examples' section would be perhaps
the most useful addition to these manuals; a careful rewrite of
many manual entries is probably also in order, to be done by one
who both knows how `man -k' works *and* (and I am not sure which
is more important) is a good writer!

This still leaves the problem of integrating the current systems
with the more general documentation in /usr/doc.  Most of the on
line help systems for Unix seem to center on material in /usr/man.
A more general retrieval system is perhaps next in order.  But I
should leave this to those with more knowledge (and interest) than I.
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 1516)
UUCP:	seismo!umcp-cs!chris
CSNet:	chris at umcp-cs		ARPA:	chris at mimsy.umd.edu