OK, I've heard this discussed before, but as I'm not a Perler, I don't
know what the big deal is with perldoc.
What is it, what can it do, how is it used, why is it better than ri,
etc.?
Using perldoc feels much the same as using man. In fact, you can use
perldoc to make man pages.
What makes perldoc betters is not perldoc but the documentation. Perl
has an exceptional ammount of very thorough documentation in a very
accessible (ie man-page) manner. When you install a module you have a
reasonable expectation of it automatically installing a perldoc page.
The writing style of ri is different from that of man pages. It is more
of a list of methods than an actual explanation of how to use them.
Try this:
man perl -> You get a list of the standard pages that come with Perl.
man perlre
man perlvar
man perlreftut
...
Try these. You'll see that Perl comes with a garganuous ammount of
man-page-style documentation.
Compare that with :
ri Class
Notice that ri does not produce a scrollable output (yes, you can pipe
ri to less, I know), and the descriptions are fairly limited.
Also, ri seems to be limited to explaining what a class does. Perldoc
is limited only by the number of characters on your keyboard. With
perldoc you get a lot of tutorials and descriptions of how things work.
It's more of an issue of the ammount and style of documentation than of
the actual technology. Documentation one of the things I like most
about Perl and like least about Ruby.
I do think that ri should be scrollable though.
Cheers,
