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Re: [PATCH] git-commit.txt: Order options alphabetically

From
Kevin Ballard <kevin@sb.org>
Date
Dec 1, 2010, 21:58 UTC
Message-ID
<295D1E95-1C61-4960-8C9C-BDB0BD4A1A50@sb.org>
In-Reply-To
<7vzkspuw8g.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
On Dec 1, 2010, at 11:30 AM, Junio C Hamano wrote:
Show 7 quoted lines
>> You read from top to bottom, therefore
>> A-Z.
> 
> I used to think that back when I referred to printed documentation more
> often than online, but not anymore.  Alphabetical ordering is somewhat
> last century; the documentation is often more useful if the options are
> grouped together by features and concepts they relate to.

I completely agree. Alphabetical sorting is only useful when you already know the name of the command you want, and you have no search function. If you don't know the name of the command you want, then grouping by functionality is far better, and if you have a search function, then there is no real benefit at all to A-Z sorting. Trying to make the manpage look "nice" at the expense of removing functional grouping is misguided.

-Kevin Ballard
Previous: Junio C HamanoNext: Jari Aalto
Message 8 of 22 in “git-commit.txt: Order options alphabetically”
  1. git-commit.txt: Order options alphabeticallyjari.aalto@cante.net, Dec 1, 2010
  2. Jonathan NiederDec 1, 2010
  3. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  4. Jakub NarebskiDec 1, 2010
  5. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  6. Jakub NarebskiDec 2, 2010
  7. Junio C HamanoDec 1, 2010
  8. Kevin BallardDec 1, 2010
  9. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  10. Kevin BallardDec 1, 2010
  11. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  12. Jan KrügerDec 2, 2010
  13. Jari AaltoDec 2, 2010
  14. Jakub NarebskiDec 2, 2010
  15. Jan KrügerDec 2, 2010
  16. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  17. Kevin BallardDec 1, 2010
  18. Jari AaltoDec 1, 2010
  19. Kevin BallardDec 1, 2010
  20. Jari AaltoDec 2, 2010
  21. Erik Faye-LundDec 3, 2010
  22. Nguyen Thai Ngoc DuyDec 3, 2010

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