Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Thoughts from the Linux Trenches

Author:Chuck Shotton
Posted:3/5/1999; 6:58:47 AM
Topic:DHTML MTTF!
Msg #:3620 (In response to 3615)
Prev/Next:3619 / 3621

Amen brother! Inside Linux, Volume I. Then a few years later Volume II.

Maybe the folks at O'Reilly are listening. ;)

Inside Mac defines the ideal O/S API reference for me. After spending years and years trying to wade through IBM's "phonebook paper" programming manuals and DEC's "orange binders from Hell", Inside Macintosh was a breath of fresh air. Sure, it needed some editorial help and sometimes wasn't completely clear. But the style of the manuals, the completeness, the examples, and the ease of use made learning how to program the Mac a breeze compared to those other platforms.

If this sort of documentation existed for the canonical set of APIs in Linux, I think the number of applications written for or ported to Linux would be off the scale. Even for experienced developers, the current learning curve is just too steep when confronted with the task of just trying to find all the API docs in the first place.

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