Re: Variables in API documentation

[Maynard Hogg <maynard -at- GOL -dot- COM>]

At [Mon, 5 May 1997 15:01:21 -0700]
Lynn Gold <figmo -at- RAHUL -dot- NET> wrote:

> When referring to a variable such as a filename, do people still use
> angle-brackets, do they use italics, nothing at all, or do they use
> something else?

> For example, would you use:

> a) rm <filename>
>    (using angle brackets that are not supposed to be typed as part of the
>    command)

> b) rm *filename*
>    (where the asterisks here are denoting italicized text)

> c) rm filename
>    (no special demarcation)

My Unix/DOS bias (note that rm is a Unix shell command) rules the first
two out immediately since they already have a predefined meaning to
Unix/DOS shells.

One dodge that works for DOS is to use upper case for tokens that have
to be typed as is and lower case for variables. (This doesn't work for
Unix shells because RM and rm are two different animals.)

===

Maynard Hogg
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