gnuplot-bugs

[Gnuplot-bugs] Syntax should mention options

[Dan J. <ji...@ji...>]

I am a robotlike user, so when "help plot" says
 Syntax:
       plot {<ranges>}
            {<function> | {"<datafile>" {datafile-modifiers}}}
            {axes <axes>} {<title-spec>} {with <style>}
            {, {definitions,} <function> ...}

and "help plot frequency" says that frequency is an "option", I cannot
find where to attach an "option" in the above syntax, without probably
reading elsewhere. So Syntax should mention options.

P.S., in Info on Debian sid 4.0.0-2, we see HTML:
Seeking-assistance
==================

^ <a name="Seeking-assistance"></a>

Re: [Gnuplot-bugs] Syntax should mention options

[Hans-Bernhard B. <br...@ph...>]

Dan Jacobson wrote:
> I am a robotlike user, so when "help plot" says
>  Syntax:
>        plot {<ranges>}
>             {<function> | {"<datafile>" {datafile-modifiers}}}
>             {axes <axes>} {<title-spec>} {with <style>}
>             {, {definitions,} <function> ...}
> 
> and "help plot frequency" says that frequency is an "option", I cannot
> find where to attach an "option" in the above syntax, without probably
> reading elsewhere. So Syntax should mention options.

No --- there are alltogether way too many options in the 'plot' command 
to explicitly list them all in the Syntax overview.  OTOH I don't really 
think 'help plot frequency' should lead you to where it does (it's 
really "help plot datafile smooth frequency", because 'frequency' is a 
sub-option of 'smooth', which is one of the options subsumed by the 
{datafile-modifiers} entry of the 'plot' syntax.

Organizing a help system that's supposed to work reasonably well in all 
of these formats

Windows Helpfile (old style)
texinfo->HTML
        ->info
        ->TeX->PostScript
             ->PDF
VMS helpfile
GIH(internal help)

is quite challenging.  Occasional quirks are inevitable.