Improved help files. Re: Feature suggestion

[Roy Souther <roy@silicontao.com>]

I have been wanting such a document for a long time. I my work I suffer from 
knowing and using to many languages and find I often need to lookup the most 
basic of syntax format. I find the xwpe's method of help to be very poor. 
Case in point the mkdir command. When you use help topic search to lookup 
mkdir help you get mkdir 1 for the command line, but if you are writing C you 
wanted mkdir 2 for C.

I started to gather C & C++ function documentation in html format and would 
like to gather more documentation in html on syntax and even other languages, 
starting with the ones I use the most.

I recommend that a new help format be implemented. One that uses simple html 
formated pages. xwpe would need to be modified so that an html browser is 
called like kfmclient, netscape or other GUI or lynx for the non GUI wpe.

I would also like to see the configuration file for syntax have a new option 
that says for each syntax the location of the documentation files.

If you are interested in seeing the no so impressive start I have made on 
collecting C documentation 
http://www.SiliconTao.com/ProgrammingGuide/index.html

Also if anyone is interested in collaborating to create a GNU GPL'd 
documentation of html files I am very interested.

On July  3, 2001 07:36 pm, you wrote:
> [Adrian, debian xwpe package maintainer, forwarded this message to me
> since I maintain xwpe.]
>
> >         I think a great feature to enhance wpe would be a C/C++ language
> > reference, just like the one in Borland Turbo C, including language
> > syntax with examples, and the standard C library, and perhaps common
> > programming hints and tips on language constructs like arrays, structs,
> > and so on, indispensable for newbies and handy even for seasoned
> > programmers.
>
> To some degree it already does.  xwpe can display the man pages for
> various standard C library functions by using Topic Search while the
> cursor is on the function or using the Function Index.  Unfortunately
> the man pages don't cover standard C++ library or language constructs.
> They also don't typically have examples.  I don't know if the man
> pages will eventually cover some or all of these areas.  If not I could
> perhaps throw in some way to add additional information like that but
> I'm affraid I don't have the time to create the content.
>
> Dennis Payne
> dulsi@identicalsoftware.com

-- 
Roy Souther <roy@silicontao.com>

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