Improving 'Help'-File (Tutorial)

[Uwe Dippel]

Over the last days I have tried to get a grip on Octave, in vain. What I 
did was going through the help; and what I found was an inconsistency. I 
fully agree, that those familiar with octave will not encounter this 
problem; but for newbies it would be a great help, could we newbies 
distinguish clearly what we can *type* and what is *explanation*.
Already here at the very start of the 'Help':

> 1.2.1 Creating a Matrix
>
> To create a new matrix and store it in a variable so that it you can 
> refer to it later, type the command
>
>      octave:1> A = [ 1, 1, 2; 3, 5, 8; 13, 21, 34 ] 
>
> Octave will respond by printing the matrix in neatly aligned columns. 
> Ending a command with a semicolon tells Octave to not print the result 
> of a command. For example
>
>      octave:2> B = rand (3, 2); 
>
> will create a 3 row, 2 column matrix with each element set to a random 
> value between zero and one.
>
> To display the value of any variable, simply type the name of the 
> variable. For example, to display the value stored in the matrix B, 
> type the command
>
>      octave:3> B 
>
> 1.2.2 Matrix Arithmetic
>
> Octave has a convenient operator notation for performing matrix 
> arithmetic. For example, to multiply the matrix a by a scalar value, 
> type the command
>
>      octave:4> 2 * A 
>
> To multiply the two matrices a and b, type the command
>
>      octave:5> A * B 
>
> and to form the matrix product transpose (A) * A, type the command
>
>      octave:6> A' * A 
>
> 1.2.3 Solving Linear Equations
>
> To solve the set of linear equations Ax = b, use the left division 
> operator, ‘\’:
>
>      octave:7> A \ b 
>
> This is conceptually equivalent to inv (a) * b, but avoids computing 
> the inverse of a matrix directly.
>
> If the coefficient matrix is [...]

Of course, the latter fails with "error: `b' undefined near line 7 column 5"

And this isn't the only one. Though, 1-6 follow each other sequentially, 
and logically.
As someone who has gone through 'R' tutorials, I found it very helpful, 
that all lines starting with '>', and typed sequentially, will result in 
a given output. While lines explaining syntax are written with the 
prompt at the beginning. And if the input to a prompt is yet to be 
defined by the user, the user-part will be written in italics.
I really wished something like this was to be found in the examples of 
octave as well. It simply is a great encouragement, if a sequence of 
prompts, entered one after the other, actually resulted in some output, 
and not in a syntax error. Similar things happen on the subsequent 
pages; up to and including the examples for plots.

Uwe