From: Kurt H Maier <khm@sciops.net>
To: 9front@9front.org
Subject: Re: [9front] Argument lists in Plan 9 man pages
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2018 20:34:51 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20180315033451.GA89773@wopr> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <8ADDB08FEC580BCDA1A069F2B6469597@5ess.inri.net>
On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 10:57:55PM -0400, sl@stanleylieber.com wrote:
>
> I agree with Tufte, at least so far as this applies to man pages.
> Flag options should be presented as a table.
Counterpoint:
Man pages should provide a full and well-articulated explanation of the
software. Tufte's table advocacy is more appropriate for a 'usage'
function that might describe invocation to a user who passed a help
flag or fucked up the initial attempt.
Tufte's USA Today stuff is fine for sales brochures and nutrition
information labels -- man pages should be the developer speaking to the
user, and that happens in English.
My commitment to this opinion is insufficiently intense to cause me to
take any action beyond whining on the internet.
khm
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2018-03-15 3:34 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 20+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2018-03-15 2:57 sl
2018-03-15 3:33 ` Sean Hinchee
2018-03-15 3:34 ` Kurt H Maier [this message]
2018-03-15 4:54 ` Kyle Nusbaum
2018-03-18 10:07 ` Ethan A. Gardener
2018-03-18 10:17 ` Ethan A. Gardener
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2018-03-16 1:25 sl
2018-03-16 1:20 sl
2018-03-16 1:32 ` Lyndon Nerenberg
2018-03-16 13:22 ` hiro
2018-03-16 13:23 ` hiro
2018-03-16 15:08 ` Stanley Lieber
2018-03-16 15:45 ` hiro
2018-03-16 18:00 ` Stanley Lieber
2018-03-16 22:04 ` hiro
2018-03-16 22:06 ` hiro
2018-03-17 21:12 ` Lyndon Nerenberg
2018-03-18 2:33 ` hiro
2018-03-18 10:15 ` Ethan A. Gardener
2018-03-15 1:53 sl
2018-03-15 2:19 ` [9front] " Kurt H Maier
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