Re: On the size of the command set

Julian Foad wrote:
> Travis P wrote:
>
>>
> [...]
>
>> In particular, learning a new system, a TOC often helps give a map of
>> ideas that is useful and helps one find relevant similar information
>> about a topic.
>>
>> When returning for reference, I think a (sorted) index is most useful.
>
> [...]
>
>> I'm thinking that TOC help by default might be the better approach for
>> new users (I'm specifically contemplating specific new users for which
>> I will be the live help resource, so I've a stake in the non-live help
>> being as useful as possible. :-)

So how about the following:

     Subcommands by category:

         Modifying: add, copy, delete, mkdir, move
         Synchronizing: commit, merge, resolved, update
         Inspecting: blame, cat, diff, info, list, log, status
         Respository: checkout, export, import
         Maintenance: cleanup, revert, switch
         Properties: propdel, propedit, propget, proplist, propset

     Available subcommands:

         commands...

That would add only a few lines to the output but would provide a
quick guide to new users. In fact, if you changed the output for
the "svn" command (no arguments) to include the categories, e.g.:

     Type 'svn help' for usage.

     Type "svn help <subcommand>" for help on a specific subcommand.

     Subcommands by category:

         Modifying: add, copy, delete, mkdir, move
         Synchronizing: commit, merge, resolved, update
         Inspecting: blame, cat, diff, info, list, log, status
         Respository: checkout, export, import
         Maintenance: cleanup, revert, switch
         Properties: propdel, propedit, propget, proplist, propset

That output is under a page and would instantly give users a place
to start.

Also, I scraped some of the output above from the rc3 svn client; I
don't know if it was fixed in 1.1.0 (will check later today) but
you use single and double quotes inconsistently ('svn help' and
"svn help <subcommand>").

-- 
______________________________________________________________________
Michael Sweet, Easy Software Products           mike at easysw dot com
Printing Software for UNIX                       http://www.easysw.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@subversion.tigris.org