Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool

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From: Alejandro Colomar <[email protected]>
To: "G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]>
Cc: Arsen =?utf-8?Q?Arsenovi=C4=87?= <[email protected]>, 
	"Maciej W. Rozycki" <[email protected]>, Collin Funk <[email protected]>, 
	Paul Eggert <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], 
	[email protected]
Subject: Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool
Message-ID: <am_SYQV74iczZNax@devuan>
References: <[email protected]>
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In-Reply-To: <20260802231058.o7gud4bd7co2nbhv@illithid>

Hi Branden,

> Date: 2026-08-02 18:10:58-0500
> From: "G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]>
>
> At 2026-08-03T01:08:32+0200, Arsen Arsenovi=C4=87 wrote:
> > Alejandro Colomar <[email protected]> writes:
> > > Most programmers can live in the safe bubble of <string.h>: those
> > > functions always require a string as input, and always provide a
> > > string as output.  Plain and simple.  It's difficult to write bugs
> > > when using those.
> > >
> > > That's the rationale.
> >=20
> > I do not follow.
> >=20
> > C has no namespaces, let alone qualified imports.
>=20
> That's true.
>=20
> > The name of a header providing some function is thus inconsequential.
>=20
> Then why not have one official big header file for the whole standard?
>=20
> #include <stdlibc.h>

Heh, curious thing: Plan9 did exactly this (actually, two headers).  :)

	#include <u.h>
	#include <libc.h>

Not that I support that idea, of course.

>=20
> When you answer that to your own satisfaction, I suspect you'll have
> little trouble following Alex's argument.

Indeed.  Thanks!  You've replied in less words than I would have, and
were more clear than I would have been.

> ...which doesn't mean you'll agree with it.
>=20
> Regards,
> Branden


Have a lovely night!
Alex

--=20
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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