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Re: Editors, Searching, Geekness, and Gary Preckshot
Gary Preckshot wrote:
>
> Peter Hernberg wrote:
> >
> > Why? Assuming that vi and friends are inadquate, why should you (or I) care?
>
> Because if you want to use DocBook as a system, you have to
> have tools that support the system. When I first got on this
> list, SGML was extolled because of its many system virtues.
> As it turned out, none of them were actually being used
> except the ability to output in a variety of formats. If you
> want to use the search and retrieval capability, you need a
> higher level of competence in the content producers. It's
> very similar to a programming language. If you want good
> programs, you either hire good people or you compensate by
> having tools that support writing good programs.
Err, the only reason we're using SGML is *because* we can convert
it into so many formats. Makes it easier for dead-tree publishing
of LDP documentation. I'm not sure we need a system where we
can find out what documents having my name haven't been updated
in over a year and contain the words "bite my shiny metal ass".
The reason we're switching to DocBook is because that's what everyone
else is using (yea, yea, if other companies jumped off a bridge..hand
me that bungee, willya?)
> > As
> > long as the SGML parses, the writing is good, and the points are technically
> > accurate, who cares?
>
> That's only part of it. We're getting bigger now, and we
> expect writers to have some knowledge of work that has gone
> before and relates to what they are writing about. In
> technical fields, it's called citing prior art. The idea of
> searching is to enable the reader to locate documents that
> may bear on his/her problem.
How do these tools differ from a regular HTML search engine?
> > This isn't a business.
>
> No, it's technical writing in a technical writing system.
> Otherwise why use DocBook. The IEEE would love to have 100
> years of submissions converted to a DTD. They have the same
> problem we do - searching and finding related papers. Try
> INSPEC or other technical paper search engines. The IEEE and
> other technical organizations run mostly on volunteers.
I don't recall paying a subscription to join the LDP, or
paying to retrieve LDP documents.
-Mark
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