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From: dtw@F.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (Duane Williams)

Date: 6 Mar 88 03:02:19 GMT

| I won't say I think you know nothing about publishing, but the holes [in
| documentation from software companies] you mention are mostly minor. THE
| MAIN ONES ARE CAUSED BY THE FACT THAT MANUFACTURERS DON'T TAKE
| RESPONSIBILITY TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO USE THEIR PRODUCTS. Instead they say
| "Oh, you must already know how to program in C.  We just tell you the
| "right" syntax, the limitations, and if you are lucky we'll give you an
| example too".  THE MANUALS COP OUT BY ONLY GIVING SYNTAX AND LEAVING THE
| TUTORIALS TO OTHER FOLKS. Why? I think its because most manufacturers are
| the poorest users of their own products! Sorry, but I see it over and over.
| Its the ivory tower syndrome. Lets see what other people think.

I won't say that I think you know nothing about programmers, but I certainly
don't want a language publisher's manual to try to teach me how to program
in a language.  I may already know, in which case I wouldn't want to pay for
a tutorial I didn't need.  If I did need a tutorial for a language, I still
wouldn't want the language publisher to provide one with the compiler or
interpreter.  I would want to go to a bookstore or library and select a
tutorial appropriate for my level of general programming expertise.



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Re: HyperTalk Books, How to Judge?