[Sderby] Jargon et al

[Dave Coulson]

Harry Sheppard wrote:

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>I'm going to steal Stormbringer's disclaimer here:: This is just a personal 
>opinion which carries no weight whatsoever and so can be happily ignored by 
>anyone who doesn't share it!
>
>On Tuesday 10 August 2004 17:33, Dave Coulson wrote:
>  
>
>>My second point is that the history of Linux is bound up in personal
>>development, so that people have to work to gain understanding.
>>    
>>
>Err - that's half of the fun in learning a new OS, isn't it? If you don't 
>_WORK_ to achieve something, surely that achievement is worthless? If it 
>hasn't made you think and deepened your knowledge and understanding, what's 
>the point in the first place? You may as well follow the Microsoft route :-)
>
> I would rather _KNOW_ what my OS is doing (and why it's doing it) rather than 
>sitting and scratching my head, frowning at another Microsoft BSOD (Blue 
>Screen of Death) claiming a fatal exception 0E has occured...
>
>  
>
>>Most HOW-To's etc are written by specialists in their fields who assume that 
>>the readers knowledge is the same as theirs.
>>    
>>
>I'd have to disagree with that as the whole 'raison d'être' of a howto is to 
>get someone who hasn't undertaken a particular project / procedure before 
>into a state such that they may do so. To have a howto aimed at someone with 
>equivelant knowledge of the author is self defeating, surely?
>
>I will concede that some howtos assume prior knowledge of a particular 
>discipline, but that can usually be addressed by refering to other howtos and 
>documentation that cover the area where said knowledge is assumed.
>
>At the end of the day, it would be lovely to have a distribution that holds 
>your hand throughout every step, accounting for - and accommodating - every 
>possible configuration hiccough it can encounter. PC hardware (not to mention 
>all of the other platforms Linux supports) is such a broad stage on which to 
>perform I'm generally very impressed as to the level of help linux does give 
>you.
>
>To a large extent, most distributions allow you to make informed choices by 
>ways of their installer interface and those that rely on the user knowing 
>what they're doing (read "Gentoo") tend to have exceptionally good 
>documentation in lieu. 
>
>When that fails, there are newsgroups, user groups, mailing lists and 
>distribution-specific forums in which to voice questions, any of which tend 
>to yield an answer in an extremely short amount of time.
>
>  
>
>>Perhaps the time has come for a beginners series of HOW-To's to be written.
>>    
>>
>At the end of the day, most Linux developments and advancements are community 
>driven. If there's something that you feel could be / needs to be done 
>better, pitch in when you're in a position to do so!
>
>  
>
>>At least by defining acronyms, the write would point the beginner to the
>>correct area from which to gain new knowledge.
>>    
>>
>We all started learning Linux somewhere, be it due to our interest being 
>piqued by a friend or colleague, frustration at the "de facto starndard" 
>Desktop OS or simply on moral grounds. Communities like this very one exist 
>to help fellow users be they gurus or newbies, and as regards acronyms and 
>jargon? You can always refer to Eric S. Raymond's highly entertaining Jargon 
>File, available at:
>
>http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/
>
>If that fails to yield results, I have yet to come across a term that can't be 
>defined by a Google search in under twenty seconds :-) For example, a while 
>back I came across CARP in the OpenBSD context. Entering "CARP OpenBSD" into 
>google comes back in the google listing with "New tools for filtering gateway 
>failover: CARP (the Common Address Redundancy Protocol)" - it tells you what 
>it is and what it stands for without even visiting the site!
>
>If _THAT_ fails, try the Acronym Finder:
>
>http://www.acronymfinder.com/
>
>If that also fails, you've mis-typed the acronym :-)
>
>At the end of the day, you need to put a little in to get something out - 
>twenty seconds on Google for me is an acceptable time penalty to extend my 
>knowledge that bit further...
>
>  
>
>>My wife is a proofreader and copy editor and adopts the practice specified
>>by most sensible publishers. The procedure  is to define all acronyms ONCE
>>in the text fully, so that their meaning  is clear.
>>    
>>
>An admirable practice for printed documentation, however there is simply no 
>need for electronic docs as you're already sat at a computer that has, in all 
>likelihood, an internet connection - just search for it!
>
>Cheers,
>- --Harry
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>  
>
Harry
Whilst I agree with you on the point about new Operating Systems and the 
fun of learning them, I still think that the learning process should be 
made as easy as possible. Again you are correct in what you say about 
HOT-To's being meant for people to learn from. Its just a pity that some 
writers forget that.
As to the use of the Internet to solve acronyms, I have to disagree. 
What can be worse than reading through a set of instructions, computer 
based or otherwise and finding that you have to stop to consult Google. 
The sense of the topic is lost in the process. It would be so much 
better to define the acronym in situ, regardless of the source of the 
document.
Cheers Dave C