On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 12:02, Murray Cumming<[email protected]> wrote: > > You are saying that it's a "reference manual" because it references > stuff, where "references" actually means "contains"? As a native English > speaker and someone who has spent time among the humans, I don't think > that makes sense.
Agreed :-) > A "reference manual" is usually something that _people_ refer to for > details that they cannot remember precisely. That's why dictionaries and > grammar rule are in a reference library, but not a novel. Absolutely. A "reference manual" in (technical) English is a defined term meaning a definitive API reference, possibly grouped together into a series of related chapters. Good Javadoc can be a reference manual, as is the majority of _Java in a Nutshell_[1] and the "Reference section" in the _BBC Micro User Guide_[2]. A "user/developer's guide" is a structured walk-through of building up a developer's knowledge to be able to use a system. It introduces concepts and practices, and builds them up so that the developer ends up relying on the "reference manual". The _BBC Micro User Guide_ is a great example of this: the first half of the book introduces the concepts and how they relate, the second half is a reference guide to the details of everything you can do with it. HTH, Andrew [1] http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596007737/ [2] http://central.kaserver5.org/Kasoft/Typeset/BBC/Contents.html -- Andrew Flegg -- mailto:[email protected] | http://www.bleb.org/ Maemo Community Council chair _______________________________________________ maemo-community mailing list [email protected] https://lists.maemo.org/mailman/listinfo/maemo-community
