[TUHS] Old documentation - still the best

[TUHS] Old documentation - still the best

[Will Senn]

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A small reflection on the marvels of ancient writing...

Today, I went to the local Unix user group to see what that was like. I 
was pleasantly surprised to find it quite rewarding. Learned some new 
stuff... and won the door prize, a copy of a book entitled "Introducing 
the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan. I accepted the 
prize, but said I'd just read it and recycle it for some other deserving 
unix-phile. As it turns out, I'm not giving it back, I'll contribute 
another Unix book. I thought it was just some intro unix text and 
figured I might learn a thing or two and let someone else who needs it 
more have it after I read it, but it's a V7 book! I haven't seem many of 
those around and so, I started digging into it and do I ever wish I'd 
had it when I was first trying to figure stuff out! Great book, never 
heard of it, or its authors, but hey, I've only read a few thousand tech 
books.

What was really fun, was where I went from there - the authors mentioned 
some bit about permuted indexes and the programmer's manual... So, I 
went and grabbed my copy off the shelf and lo and behold, my copy either 
doesn't have a permuted index or I'm not finding it, I was crushed. But, 
while I was digging around the manual, I came across Section 9 - Quick 
UNIX Reference! Are you kidding me?!! How many years has it taken me to 
gain what knowledge I have? and here, in 20 pages is the most concise 
reference manual I've ever seen.

Just the SH, TROFF and NROFF sections are worth the effort of digging up 
this 40 year old text.

Anyhow, following on the heels of a recent dive into v7 and Ritchie's 
setting up unix v7 documentation, I was yet again reminded of the golden 
age of well written technical documents. Oh and I guess my recent 
perusal of more modern "heavy weight" texts (heavy by weight, not 
content, and many hundreds of pages long) might have made me more 
appreciative of concision - I long for the days of 300 page and shorter 
technical books :). In case you think I overstate - just got through a 
pair of TCL/TK books together clocking in at 1565 pages.

Thank you Henry McGilton, Rachel Morgan, and Dennis Ritchie and Steve 
Bourne and other folks of the '70s and '80s for keeping it concise. As a 
late to the party unix enthusiast, I greatly value your work and am 
really thankful you didn't write like they do now...

Later,

Will






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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Larry McVoy]

Good writing is an art form.  I used to be awful, then I met Udi Manber
and did some work with him.  When I told him I struggled to write a good
paper (I was either a senior or a grad student, so not a lot of practice)
he was flabbergasted and said "writing papers is easy".  I said "do tell".
Here is what he told me:

A) You have to know what you are writing about, no amount of writing chops
will cover up a lack of knowledge.  
B) You have to have a good outline.  Organize what you want to tell
people and get it in the right order and with the right level of detail.

The outline is like the skeleton of a ship.  Once you have that, you are
just nailing on boards.  Same thing for a paper.  A good outline and 
good knowledge, now you are just typing and filling in the details.

But to get back to your point, Will, great writing is all of that but
just enough words, no more, no less.  You need skill to do that but you
also need to care about what you are writing, it's easy to write crap
if you don't care.  It's hard to write well, even with all skills, I
used to call writing being mentally constipated, the good stuff didn't
come out easily.

The early Unix papers were very well written.  The Bell Labs technical
journal papers about Unix are fantastic in my opinion.

On Sat, Jun 01, 2024 at 08:59:42PM -0500, Will Senn wrote:
> A small reflection on the marvels of ancient writing...
> 
> Today, I went to the local Unix user group to see what that was like. I was
> pleasantly surprised to find it quite rewarding. Learned some new stuff...
> and won the door prize, a copy of a book entitled "Introducing the UNIX
> System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan. I accepted the prize, but said
> I'd just read it and recycle it for some other deserving unix-phile. As it
> turns out, I'm not giving it back, I'll contribute another Unix book. I
> thought it was just some intro unix text and figured I might learn a thing
> or two and let someone else who needs it more have it after I read it, but
> it's a V7 book! I haven't seem many of those around and so, I started
> digging into it and do I ever wish I'd had it when I was first trying to
> figure stuff out! Great book, never heard of it, or its authors, but hey,
> I've only read a few thousand tech books.
> 
> What was really fun, was where I went from there - the authors mentioned
> some bit about permuted indexes and the programmer's manual... So, I went
> and grabbed my copy off the shelf and lo and behold, my copy either doesn't
> have a permuted index or I'm not finding it, I was crushed. But, while I was
> digging around the manual, I came across Section 9 - Quick UNIX Reference!
> Are you kidding me?!! How many years has it taken me to gain what knowledge
> I have? and here, in 20 pages is the most concise reference manual I've ever
> seen.
> 
> Just the SH, TROFF and NROFF sections are worth the effort of digging up
> this 40 year old text.
> 
> Anyhow, following on the heels of a recent dive into v7 and Ritchie's
> setting up unix v7 documentation, I was yet again reminded of the golden age
> of well written technical documents. Oh and I guess my recent perusal of
> more modern "heavy weight" texts (heavy by weight, not content, and many
> hundreds of pages long) might have made me more appreciative of concision -
> I long for the days of 300 page and shorter technical books :). In case you
> think I overstate - just got through a pair of TCL/TK books together
> clocking in at 1565 pages.
> 
> Thank you Henry McGilton, Rachel Morgan, and Dennis Ritchie and Steve Bourne
> and other folks of the '70s and '80s for keeping it concise. As a late to
> the party unix enthusiast, I greatly value your work and am really thankful
> you didn't write like they do now...
> 
> Later,
> 
> Will
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
---
Larry McVoy           Retired to fishing          http://www.mcvoy.com/lm/boat

[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Grant Taylor via TUHS]

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On 6/1/24 20:59, Will Senn wrote:
> ... "Introducing the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan

Would you please share the ISBN for the book?

It looks like there may be two different covers and I'm curious which 
one you're referring to.



-- 
Grant. . . .

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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Will Senn]

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On 6/1/24 10:02 PM, Grant Taylor via TUHS wrote:
> On 6/1/24 20:59, Will Senn wrote:
>> ... "Introducing the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan
>
> Would you please share the ISBN for the book?
>
> It looks like there may be two different covers and I'm curious which 
> one you're referring to.
>
>
>
0-07-045001-3
1983 - McGraw Hill
Black cover, gray and white text, orangegish boxes:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2398130.Introducing_the_UNIX_System

Mine doesn't have the "A BYTE BOOK" or "McGraw-Hill Software Series for 
Computer Professionals headings" printed on the top, but otherwise it's 
the same book




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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Grant Taylor via TUHS]

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On 6/1/24 22:12, Will Senn wrote:
> 0-07-045001-3
> 1983 - McGraw Hill
> Black cover, gray and white text, orangegish boxes:
> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2398130.Introducing_the_UNIX_System

Thank you.

> Mine doesn't have the "A BYTE BOOK" or "McGraw-Hill Software Series for 
> Computer Professionals headings" printed on the top, but otherwise it's 
> the same book

:-)



-- 
Grant. . . .

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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Scot Jenkins via TUHS]

Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 6/1/24 10:02 PM, Grant Taylor via TUHS wrote:
> > On 6/1/24 20:59, Will Senn wrote:
> >> ... "Introducing the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan


This is a great book, and much of it is still relevant today.  The editor 
tutorials and the document formatting chapters are outstanding.


> > Would you please share the ISBN for the book?
> >
> > It looks like there may be two different covers and I'm curious which 
> > one you're referring to.
> >
> >
> >
> 0-07-045001-3
> 1983 - McGraw Hill
> Black cover, gray and white text, orangegish boxes:
> https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2398130.Introducing_the_UNIX_System
>
> Mine doesn't have the "A BYTE BOOK" or "McGraw-Hill Software Series for 
> Computer Professionals headings" printed on the top, but otherwise it's 
> the same book


FWIW, my copy does have the "A BYTE BOOK" and the "McGraw-Hill Software 
Series for Computer Professionals" headings, and has the same ISBN and
publish date (1983), 556 total pages including the index.  

The book doesn't appear to have any printing version on the copyright
page, just this above the ISBN, which I have no idea what it means:

	12 13 14 15 DODO 898765

scot

[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Jim Capp]

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Does it happen to Nicole's, or anyone else's extension or just yours? 


From: "Will Senn" <will.senn@gmail.com> 
To: "TUHS" <tuhs@tuhs.org> 
Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2024 9:59:42 PM 
Subject: [TUHS] Old documentation - still the best 

A small reflection on the marvels of ancient writing... 

Today, I went to the local Unix user group to see what that was like. I was pleasantly surprised to find it quite rewarding. Learned some new stuff... and won the door prize, a copy of a book entitled "Introducing the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan. I accepted the prize, but said I'd just read it and recycle it for some other deserving unix-phile. As it turns out, I'm not giving it back, I'll contribute another Unix book. I thought it was just some intro unix text and figured I might learn a thing or two and let someone else who needs it more have it after I read it, but it's a V7 book! I haven't seem many of those around and so, I started digging into it and do I ever wish I'd had it when I was first trying to figure stuff out! Great book, never heard of it, or its authors, but hey, I've only read a few thousand tech books. 

What was really fun, was where I went from there - the authors mentioned some bit about permuted indexes and the programmer's manual... So, I went and grabbed my copy off the shelf and lo and behold, my copy either doesn't have a permuted index or I'm not finding it, I was crushed. But, while I was digging around the manual, I came across Section 9 - Quick UNIX Reference! Are you kidding me?!! How many years has it taken me to gain what knowledge I have? and here, in 20 pages is the most concise reference manual I've ever seen. 

Just the SH, TROFF and NROFF sections are worth the effort of digging up this 40 year old text. 

Anyhow, following on the heels of a recent dive into v7 and Ritchie's setting up unix v7 documentation, I was yet again reminded of the golden age of well written technical documents. Oh and I guess my recent perusal of more modern "heavy weight" texts (heavy by weight, not content, and many hundreds of pages long) might have made me more appreciative of concision - I long for the days of 300 page and shorter technical books :). In case you think I overstate - just got through a pair of TCL/TK books together clocking in at 1565 pages. 

Thank you Henry McGilton, Rachel Morgan, and Dennis Ritchie and Steve Bourne and other folks of the '70s and '80s for keeping it concise. As a late to the party unix enthusiast, I greatly value your work and am really thankful you didn't write like they do now... 

Later, 

Will 







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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Jim Capp]

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Sorry folks, please ignore that one! 


From: "Jim Capp" <jcapp@anteil.com> 
To: "Will Senn" <will.senn@gmail.com> 
Cc: "TUHS" <tuhs@tuhs.org> 
Sent: Monday, June 3, 2024 12:47:59 PM 
Subject: Re: [TUHS] Old documentation - still the best 


Does it happen to Nicole's, or anyone else's extension or just yours? 


From: "Will Senn" <will.senn@gmail.com> 
To: "TUHS" <tuhs@tuhs.org> 
Sent: Saturday, June 1, 2024 9:59:42 PM 
Subject: [TUHS] Old documentation - still the best 

A small reflection on the marvels of ancient writing... 

Today, I went to the local Unix user group to see what that was like. I was pleasantly surprised to find it quite rewarding. Learned some new stuff... and won the door prize, a copy of a book entitled "Introducing the UNIX System" by Henry McGilton and Rachel Morgan. I accepted the prize, but said I'd just read it and recycle it for some other deserving unix-phile. As it turns out, I'm not giving it back, I'll contribute another Unix book. I thought it was just some intro unix text and figured I might learn a thing or two and let someone else who needs it more have it after I read it, but it's a V7 book! I haven't seem many of those around and so, I started digging into it and do I ever wish I'd had it when I was first trying to figure stuff out! Great book, never heard of it, or its authors, but hey, I've only read a few thousand tech books. 

What was really fun, was where I went from there - the authors mentioned some bit about permuted indexes and the programmer's manual... So, I went and grabbed my copy off the shelf and lo and behold, my copy either doesn't have a permuted index or I'm not finding it, I was crushed. But, while I was digging around the manual, I came across Section 9 - Quick UNIX Reference! Are you kidding me?!! How many years has it taken me to gain what knowledge I have? and here, in 20 pages is the most concise reference manual I've ever seen. 

Just the SH, TROFF and NROFF sections are worth the effort of digging up this 40 year old text. 

Anyhow, following on the heels of a recent dive into v7 and Ritchie's setting up unix v7 documentation, I was yet again reminded of the golden age of well written technical documents. Oh and I guess my recent perusal of more modern "heavy weight" texts (heavy by weight, not content, and many hundreds of pages long) might have made me more appreciative of concision - I long for the days of 300 page and shorter technical books :). In case you think I overstate - just got through a pair of TCL/TK books together clocking in at 1565 pages. 

Thank you Henry McGilton, Rachel Morgan, and Dennis Ritchie and Steve Bourne and other folks of the '70s and '80s for keeping it concise. As a late to the party unix enthusiast, I greatly value your work and am really thankful you didn't write like they do now... 

Later, 

Will 







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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Greg A. Woods]

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At Sat, 1 Jun 2024 20:59:42 -0500, Will Senn <will.senn@gmail.com> wrote:
Subject: [TUHS] Old documentation - still the best
>
> Just the SH, TROFF and NROFF sections are
> worth the effort of digging up this 40
> year old text.

You might be interested in this one by the same author too:

Title: Typesetting Tables on the UNIX System
Author: Henry McGilton; Mary McNabb (With)
Publisher: Trilithon Press
Date: 1990-04
ISBN: 9780962628900 / 0962628905

https://archive.org/details/typesettingtable0000mcgi/mode/2up


I found it invaluable back when I was using troff frequently, and it too
is, IMHO, very well written.

--
					Greg A. Woods <gwoods@acm.org>

Kelowna, BC     +1 250 762-7675           RoboHack <woods@robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>     Avoncote Farms <woods@avoncote.ca>

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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[sjenkin]

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For those playing along at home, Internet Archive have a scanned copy to borrow.
The cover is unique & thoughtful.
Can read the Table of Contents without ‘borrowing’.

<https://archive.org/details/unixprimer0000lomu/mode/2up>

> On 3 Jun 2024, at 01:52, Douglas McIlroy <douglas.mcilroy@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
> I keep Lomuto and Lomuto, "A Unix Primer", Prentice-Hall (1983) on my shelf, not as a reference, but because I like to savor the presentation. The Lomutos manage to impart the Unix ethos while maintaining focus on the title in a  friendly style that is nevertheless succinct and accurate.
> 
> Doug

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[TUHS] Re: Old documentation - still the best

[Douglas McIlroy]

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I keep Lomuto and Lomuto, "A Unix Primer", Prentice-Hall (1983) on my
shelf, not as a reference, but because I like to savor the presentation.
The Lomutos manage to impart the Unix ethos while maintaining focus on the
title in a  friendly style that is nevertheless succinct and accurate.

Doug

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