Re: On a programming manual for Lout

[Kevin Cole]

> I preface everything with recognition of Jeff's work because it is
> too easy to criticize BUT I sometimes feel that although the clues
> are there you need the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes to solve
> the riddle. There again, perhaps I'm just dumb.

[Stating the probably obvious]

Writing code and writing documentation are very different tasks.  The
primary "audience" for code consists of compilers/interpreters which
don't vary greatly from computer to computer, but the members of
audience for documentation vary widely in their interpretive skills.
(For example, much to my embarrassment, I've displayed my ignorance and
sloppiness on this list a few times recently.)  So I think the fact that
some people have trouble decyphering the documentation doesn't reflect
at all on either Jeff or Uwe or anyone else.  That's why there are so
many authors for just about any technology you care to mention...

All I can say is that in a few short weeks I've made quite a bit more
progress with Lout than I ever did with TeX/LaTeX.  The Lout documen-
tation took me where I wanted to go much faster.  (The TeX/LaTeX books
just had too many distractions for me.)