Re: What would an "An Official" GNU Emacs Book look like?

[Vaidheeswaran C]

On Monday 18 May 2015 10:23 PM, Filipp Gunbin wrote:

> You could start with something less ambitious and improve manuals of
> different complex packages by adding more "Quick start" information
> addressed to people who are new to the package.

"Emacs Primer" will include "Quick start information" on complex and
commonly used packages.  "The Emacs Primer" will borrow (or share)
introductory texts from existing .texi files and re-purpose it to it's
own ends.

> I remember that when starting to use some of the complex packages I
> inevitably had to read half of the manual before getting something to
> work...

You are not an exception when you say this.

> A good example of this is the GNU Bash manual.  When I'm (re-)reading
> it, I always have a feeling that I read C code translated into English.
> Very precise and exact information, but not a good starting point.

Words like "good" when UN-accompanied with a measuring scale are too
vague to be useful.  There can be various measures of "good" and GNU
Emacs Manuals are "good" when seen in terms of completeness,
pedagogical style etc.  "The Emacs Primer" will aspire to be "good"
for beginners.