GAFL (was Re: C question [RTFM])
William Setzer IDM
setzer at nssdcs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Mon Aug 7 09:43:12 AEST 1989
Ari Halberstadt writes:
>Look, maybe we should create a "comp.lang.c.beginner" group or something.
Either that, or create a new newsgroup called comp.lang.c.snobs.
>I'm getting tired of reading these endless questions like "what's a comma
>operator?", why do we have a main function?, how do I post to this network?
>etc. etc.
That's what the 'k' and 'n' keys (in rn) are for. If you are extremely
distraught, then perhaps the 'u' key could be useful.
>As for the above question [not quoted] which prompted me to write this: if
>everyone in your class knows who he is, then ASK THEM!
He probably did. They probably just teased him more. People are mean that
way.
I have a particular beef with this type of post, because I have twice unjustly
been told to RTFM. In the first case, I didn't know that such a FM actually
existed. I searched two school bookstores and found _no_ books on the
subject I was interested in (X Windows). I also asked the computer support
people on campus, but they said they don't support X Windows. So I assumed
that there weren't any books available, and I posted a question. The replies
I got were not kind. The second 'RTMF message' was in this newsgroup.
I _did_ RTFM. Twice. I _didn't_ find the answer to my query, so I posted
the question. I got a polite mail message telling me to RTFM.
A lot of readers of comp.lang.c seem to be under the impression that everyone
should be able to pick up K&R and find the answer to everything. Such is not
the case. What about the poor C aspirant who has had no formal language or
computer science training? I would be surprised if he understands _any_ of
the book. Not everyone is able to comprehend a new language instantly, and
K&R is not exactly 'user friendly'. At least _try_ to give a new poster the
benefit of the doubt. If you think that the question does not deserve a
posted answer, then either ignore it or _mail_ a reply. Don't get up and
waste bandwidth raving 'RTFM!'. For all you know, they already have.
(As an attempt to ward off some of the certain flames that will follow, I
admit that some posts are obviously by people who made no attempt to find
out the answer. I am also annoyed at these type of people. However, I
think that the majority of the 'stupid question' posters are people without
a lot of resources available to them. Perhaps they just couldn't understand
K&R. Perhaps they didn't know that K&R was 'the reference', and bought a
handbook to learn from (Ugh!). I am not saying that the 'stupid question'
poster falls into one of the above categories. I am saying that they _might_.
Do not reject their questions out of hand.)
--
William Setzer
setzer at epsl.umd.edu ; My 'real' mail address.
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