Newbie questions

From: Hal Fulton [mailto:hal9000@hypermetrics.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 12:19 PM
To: ruby-talk ML
Subject: Re: Newbie questions

Berger, Daniel wrote:

perldoc is closer to a database than a simple api help system. It
allows you to search on individual functions, modules, FAQ’s, etc.

Thanks, Daniel B and Daniel C.

That gives me a much clearer idea of what perldoc is, and I
see the appeal of it.

We could always make our own version of the program.

Personally I’d call it “rman” or some such.

Is “rubydoc” taken?

If I were designing it, this is how I would approach it:

  • store the data in a canonical format, probably rdoc
  • make converters for HTML, man, etc.
  • make sure all the content of ri is in there (pluggably,
    because this gets updated)
  • make sure there is one canonical version of each piece
    of documentation, versioned, in a central repository
  • I’d like a graphical doc viewer (though maybe a browser
    and HTML might suffice)

That’s a moderately tall order.

The real tall order, though, is producing the content itself
(and controlling the quality and accuracy).

I’d be willing to contribute now and then.

http://www.ruby-doc.org/ :slight_smile:

Regards,

Dan

···

-----Original Message-----

Berger, Daniel wrote:

Is “rubydoc” taken?

Sounds a little too derivative of Perl to me. (Yes, I know much of
Ruby derives from Perl, but I like to emphasize where they differ.)

http://www.ruby-doc.org/ :slight_smile:

Ha, point taken. :slight_smile: But I have note even yet formed the habit of
surfing here, much less contributing.

Oh, to add to my previous wishlist: The software should be fully
internationalized. Ruby should IMO be neither Japanese-centric
nor Enligh-centric.

Hal