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Cc: Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu>, Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>,
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Subject: Re: Date representation as YY/DDD or YYYY/DDD
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Wojciech Puchar writes:

>  > Well, man pages are good at formally documenting the how 
>  > of use, but they often are not so helpful on the why and 
>  > wherefor of use.
>
>  for me it's exactly for this - to know how and why to use.

	It is important to understand "man" is a _reference_, not a
_tutorial_.  It's great if you need to refresh your memory of the
"q" flag, or check for exit codes, or check the order of parameters
to the _fillintheblank() library call.  But if you're trying to
figure out how to do X, or even how to do X correctly using this
object ... many of the pages can leave you with the feeling you're
stupider than you actually are.
	Being a tutorial may not be what "man" was designed for.  But
until there's a designated and widely promoted text-only replacement
it will be used as one.


				Robert Huff