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Re: RE: Re: Mathematica Documentation

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg38286] Re: [mg38216] RE: [mg38160] Re: Mathematica Documentation
• From: Kirk Reinholtz <kirk.reinholtz at jpl.nasa.gov>
• Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 04:18:05 -0500 (EST)
• References: <200212050831.DAA04021@smc.vnet.net>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I too found the documentation experience a bit disorienting at first.  I
suspect it's because it isn't based on the full text search model we've
all come to be familiar with.  You sometimes have to work to phrase your
desires properly, just as you do with full text search, but it's a
different kind of tailoring:  one that may cause one some discomfort
until one gets used to it.

David Park wrote:
> 
> Dave,
> 
> I disagree. I think that Mathematica has very good documentation and that is
> one of its strong points. All of the principal commands have individual Help
> pages and also their individual usage messages. It is easy to get to them.
> The book index and master index are very long.
> 
> One of the best features is that the user can write his own documentation
> for his own packages and completely integrate it with the standard
> documentation.
> 
> Yes, the documentation is not completely perfect - but this is a massive
> piece of software. As with any program it does take new users a little while
> to find their way around.
> 
> My experience is that Mathematica has the best documentation of any program
> I have used (mainly things like Word and Excel).
> 
> David Park
> djmp at earthlink.net
> http://home.earthlink.net/~djmp/
> 
> From: DGolber [mailto:dgolber at aol.com]
To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
> To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
> 
> >
> >> Have an entry under "Graphics Primitives"
> >> Have an entry under "Primitives"
> >> Have an entry under "Graphics Directives"
> >> Have an entry under "Directives"
> >
> >............
> >
> >Dave,
> >
> >I almost always use the on line Help Browser
> >
> >Set the category to Master Index and these are found.
> >
> >The first three are in the printed book's index,
> >
> >--
> >Allan
> >
> I type "primitives" in the Master Index and get section 2.9.1, which does
> not
> have a list of all the primitives.  Yes, of course I found it sooner or
> later.
> But that's not a good index.
> 
> All I can say is that, when someone asks me about Mathematica, I'll say it
> is
> hard to use for many reasons, and one of them is the poor documentation.
> 
> Dave Golber

• References:
  • RE: Re: Mathematica Documentation
    • From: "David Park" <djmp@earthlink.net>