From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Bill Campbell To: docbook-tools-discuss@sourceware.cygnus.com Subject: Re: docbook-tools-discuss: Re: I'm trying to set up docbook-tools... Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2000 06:36:00 -0000 Message-id: <20000706095446.A13085@kstarr.celestial.com> References: <200007041511.LAA15779@snark.thyrsus.com> <00070410352500.07357@ehome.inhouse> <873dlnjklb.fsf@nwalsh.com> X-SW-Source: 2000/msg00222.html On Thu, Jul 06, 2000 at 12:21:20PM -0400, Norman Walsh wrote: ... > I'm sorry you found it to be that way. That wasn't the intent. >Although the bulk of the book is intended as a reference and not a >how-to, the introductory chapters were supposed to be readable by the >novice. Can you explain, in any more detail, what you found most >troubling? I would have liked to see some more discussion of some topics like how to build indexes (indices?), cross-referencing, etc. -- i.e. the things one has to consider when writing books, documentation, and that sort of thing. The examples on the CD, and the sgml input for the book have been the most useful things for me. Another thing I would really like to see are more tools that convert existing input from ?roff, TeX, and similar markup languages into DocBook SGML, because this would make it much easier for those of us who are fluent in these to see how various constructs translate. I'm pretty well along now with a set to convert my ?roff -mm and -man files into docbook format, but it's not going quickly because of my limited skills and knowledge of docbook (particularly tbl->table). References are invaluable, but they're not usually something that is used to initially learn a language. I've always learned best by seeing concrete examples, then generalizing from that. I didn't really understand Backus Normal Form until I had already learned a lot of ALGOL, and could work backwards from complex ALGOL code generated by Burroughs FORTRAN compiler for the B-5500 (really FORTRAN->ALGOL then compile the ALGOL). Bill -- INTERNET: bill@Celestial.COM Bill Campbell; Celestial Systems, Inc. UUCP: camco!bill PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way FAX: (206) 232-9186 Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676 URL: http://www.celestial.com/ ``Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.'' Will Rogers