Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool

--rinfocppc5bsqgpr
Content-Type: text/plain; protected-headers=v1; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
From: Alejandro Colomar <[email protected]>
To: Joseph Myers <[email protected]>
Cc: "Maciej W. Rozycki" <[email protected]>, 
	Collin Funk <[email protected]>, "G. Branden Robinson" <[email protected]>, 
	Paul Eggert <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], 
	[email protected]
Subject: Re: the Linux man-pages as an educational tool
Message-ID: <anDuf9i_NyYjvPie@devuan>
References: <am56ZBzNM5J07AUa@devuan>
 <[email protected]>
 <am6CnOddgaM10pry@devuan>
 <20260802000833.zpu27l7ibvrbouna@illithid>
 <am6PkypxYg-Fq4Iz@devuan>
 <[email protected]>
 <am6X32HkGdm2xTd7@devuan>
 <[email protected]>
 <am-2d02e1qq78Asv@devuan>
 <[email protected]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>

Hi Joseph,

> Date: 2026-08-03 19:31:19+0000
> From: Joseph Myers <[email protected]>
>
> On Sun, 2 Aug 2026, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
>=20
> > If <string.h> was described as providing functions that exclusively
> > handle strings, then programmers that only need to handle strings would
> > naturally self-limit to functions from this header file.
>=20
> A one-line change to the description of <string.h> in the C standard, fro=
m=20
> "String handling" to "String and memory utilities" or similar, to make=20
> clear it's *not* (and never has been) exclusively handling strings, might=
=20
> well make sense.  That's all the change that I think makes sense in this=
=20
> area.

Please propose it.  I'd likely vote for it; it can be a positive change.

It certainly wouldn't be a one-line change, given that you'd also have
to change things like '7.28.1  String function conventions', and quite
a few others, but yeah, I get and support your idea.

I believe adding <memory.h> can be even better than that, but at least
your proposal is in the good direction.

As I said in my last message to Sam, if the currnt man-pages change
proves to be problematic contrary to my expectations, I will revisit
this and revert the documentation change.

We can also improve the wording in the meantime if the current man-pages
text is sub-optimal.


Have a lovely day!
Alex

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

--rinfocppc5bsqgpr
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=M8Be
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--rinfocppc5bsqgpr--