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> Systems have been designed that ... assume the user will be able to figure everything out, [such as] Unix -- ... arguably one of the most user-hostile systems
by zozbot123 8y ago
> Systems have been designed that ... assume the user will be able to figure everything out, [such as] Unix -- ... arguably one of the most user-hostile systems in common use.
Um, you do know that Unix used to come with user manuals? Like, oh I dunno, the vast majority of software in the 1980s and early 1990s? The designers of Unix and comparable systems were perfectly aware that command-line incantations cannot be figured out simply by sitting at the system and playing with it; this is very much not what it was designed for!
If discoverability by novice users is a priority, then that is an argument for menu-driven, interactive interfaces and UIs - which could well be built on top of something like UNIX. But documentation is always going to be important.
- TuringTest 8y agoUnix manuals are reference manuals, not training manuals. To learn something from them, first you already need to have a very good idea of what you're looking for. The kind of documentation that Unix comes with is of little use to people who already have some specific training in computing disciplines.
- forgottenpass 8y agoI believe the parent poster is talking about the paperback books that used to come with your operating system. Not manpages. I learned the command line from a book that came in a Redhat boxed set.