Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 08:42:45 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: "W. L. Estes" <wlestes AT hamlet DOT uncg DOT edu>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: helping newcomers
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.3.93.970102144212.22237A-100000@euler.uncg.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970107082855.26754E-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


On Thu, 2 Jan 1997, W. L. Estes wrote:

> That is, say, in the FAQ, maybe there could be a section
> that suggests a few places in the info documentation that people new to
> UNIXlike environments could profitably spend some time. maybe some tips on
> how to do this well, e.g. you dont have to read _all_ the info on make,
> just enough to see how to write a simple makefile and what some of the
> less obscure options do.

AFAIK, there is no documentation available on the net along the above
lines, so the FAQ has nothing to point to.  Such information belongs to
user guides, and I'm not aware of any such guide for Unix newbies.  If
and when the DJGPP User's Guide is written, it might be a place to put
such info.  But please be warned that while it seems like an easy goal,
telling people only the necessary basics on Unix-born tools is IMHO far
from easy, because actually there's a lot of little gory details to tell. 
There are a few such introductory *books* on the market, usually they hold
circa 400 pages (!), and that's only to describe the basics of the very
basic tools!

I still maintain that people who lack Unix experience should read the docs
of every tool they use in DJGPP, and should not expect to be able to begin
using them after 5 minutes.  Almost every on-line manual includes an
introduction and/or tutorial which will tell you enough to begin using
that tool, complete with examples and such.  Make, btw, is a good example,
because its manual includes chapters that explain how to create a simple
Makefile and many examples of such Makefiles.

I suggest that, after you've used a tool for some time, to return and
re-read the docs, because that is when many things begin to make sense.  I
make a point of re-reading the docs from time to time myself, and I have
yet to see a reading that didn't bring new insight.