Re: Why I can't use `info' in emacs?

[Hadron Quark]

"Robert Thorpe" <rthorpe@realworldtech.com> writes:

> Hadron Quark wrote:
>> "Robert Thorpe" <rthorpe@realworldtech.com> writes:
>> > Hadron Quark wrote:
>> >> "Robert Thorpe" <rthorpe@realworldtech.com> writes:
>> >> > Hadron Quark wrote:
>> >> >> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> >> From: Hadron Quark <hadronquark@gmail.com>
>> >> >> >> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 15:25:55 +0100
>> >> >> >>
>> >> >> >> Surely the man pages are superior in this instance for a programmer?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >> > How is the man page superior?
>> >> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >> Did you look at the excerpts which came up from the context. For a
>> >> >> programmer bringing up the API it is blatantly obvious, in this case,
>> >> >> which first stage info is more useful.
>> >> >
>> >> > The most common reason I have for looking at API docs is to remind me
>> >> > of the order of arguments in a function.  Mostly I can remember the
>> >> > functions purpose.  We're all different.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> Hence the man page is superior :-;
>> >
>> > For this particular purpose both contain the same information.
>> >
>> > The Man page contains:-
>> > int printf(const char *format, ...);
>> > And the Info page:-
>> > -- Function: int printf (const char *TEMPLATE, ...)
>> >
>>
>> No they dont.
>
> Speaking of my own usage of docs I said:-
> "The most common reason I have for looking at API docs is to remind me
> of the order of arguments in a function."
> This was the topic under discussion.  From that point of view both the
> man page and info node are similar since they give the prototype of the
> function in the first few lines of the response.
>
>> The man page is the complete man page for printf.
>
> Not really.  The man page documents only a few of the capabilities of
> printf and friends that are specified by standards bodies.  If you want
> to read about all their capabilities you must use the info pages or
> HTML pages.
>

if you think that first level "info" page which comes up is more
applicable for a programmer then fine. Personally I dont. man pages are
the de-facto linux standard with info coming second. In this case the
man page which comes up in emacs has far more pertinent information than
the info page which comes up. For me. Maybe we have to beg to differ.