Date representation as YY/DDD or YYYY/DDD

[Jerry McAllister]

On Thu, Jun 04, 2009 at 04:17:43PM -0400, Robert Huff wrote:

> 
> 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

Yes, I know.   That is why some other additional for is also useful.
I don't really propose changing man, but do often wish for some other
form.  Info does that a little, but still is often inadequate for
some comprehension of the why and wherefor of something that I 
have never mucked with.    

I am not sure a 'tutorial' is it either because they tend to take a 
person through a couple of particular tasks using the item in
question, but still not discuss much of the why and wherefor.

////jerry


> "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
>