Re: Discussion on the structure and purpose of /info/dir

[Peter J. Farley III]

The following is a reply to an earlier part of this discussion from the 
djgpp-workers list.

At 08:03 AM 3/4/02 +0200, you wrote:
<Snipped>
>> M:\>info --apropos="selecting text"
>> info: No available info files have "selecting text" in their 
indices.
>>
>> Now, I realize these failures are because the indices in the
>underlying
>> info files don't have any of those phrases in them, and the indices 

>are
>> all that info has to work with.  Better indices would yield better
>> results.
>
>Indeed.  A bug report is in order (IMHO, manuals for Fileutils and
>Textutils need a lot of work).  You could also try "c--apropos ut" as 
a
>last resort.  In general, you should go from the specific to the
>general
>when you are looking for such unknowns.  That is, start with 
something
>quite specific to what you want, and if not found, gradually make the 

>search phrase more and more general (thus potentially getting more
>false hits).  I'm sure you already know that.

Aha!  Now I see why we disagree so much on this subject.  We have 
exactly opposite methods of searching for information.  My method of 
searching is to start at the most general first, if necessary weeding 
through large swaths of useless chaff to decide how to get more 
specific in my search criteria.  Your recommendation of trying 
"--apropos cut" first is exactly the reverse of how my mind 
works.  Plus, knowing the name of the utility "cut" is exactly what my 
example searcher did *not* know.  It was the goal of the search, not 
the starting point.

Perhaps that was too simple an example, but it was just the most recent 
one of my own searches that I could recall.

When I am searching a book (a reference book), I begin with the Table 
of Contents, looking for chapter headings that might relate to the 
information I need, then scanning down sub-chapter headings for more 
detailed information, and then finally reading actual pages in the 
subchapters to find the actual information.  I don't generally start at 
the index in the back, since I usually don't know any of the detailed 
specifics of the subject at hand.  Those details are why I am looking 
at the book in the first place.

Using web search engines is a very similar experience.  One starts with 
a general term, then adds additive and subtractive search terms to make 
the search more and more specific, until there are few enough entries 
to review in one sitting.

That is the kind of structure and content I would like to see in 
"/info/dir", that would allow searchers to start at the most general 
and work their way down to the most specific.
---------------------------------------------------------
Peter J. Farley III (address@hidden)