On 2022-05-03 06:45:-0700, you wrote:
This kind of gets to a point - there *are* people who know the answers on this list, but in general, they also have other things to do, so their time is limited. It's great that you're taking on the challenge of writing a book to explain it, but as you know, it's time consuming.
To be honest, a threaded list isn't the best way to explain this kind of thing. The person who wrote the software generally has a good understanding of the theory, but doesn't necessarily have the time to answer it in a 20 questions form, and, it's also possible to be knowledgeable for writing the code, but not such a great explainer.
This gets to the heart of the matter.
there *are* people who know the answers on this list, but in general, they also have other things to do
Good for them. So do I.
It's great that you're taking on the challenge of writing a book to explain it, but as you know, it's time consuming.
All I set out to do is write a user manual for the nVNAs (-H and -H4, though it generally applies to other nVNAs). I figure that if I write down each feature as I learn it, then that will benefit hundreds? thousands? of those to come. Oh, wait, there are already people who know all this, and could have taken 30 minutes to think about the device and jot down some useful things that they know.
I have long history with software engineering. That means writing requirements, a design, then software and software testing. We don't seem to have much of this. I created the menu map in yEd because it is readily accessible, and anyone can update it from here out. So we have a Russian hacker who creates this stuff. I'm impressed with the talent. I don't speak Russian as well as he speaks English, and that is not very well. What I set out to do is write down what I think will help others new to the technology know what will happen when they press a button. That's why I posted that excerpt, to show what my intent was. I say was, because it didn't take long to exhaust resources. So, since I don't intend to spend hundreds of hours learning all this stuff, and there is not much feedback besides "look it up on the web", I figure /this/ part of the project is stalled.
I've created lots of requirement docs in the past. Lots of design docs in the past. Lots of programming and software testing. So it's not that I don't get it...I do.
it's also possible to be knowledgeable for writing the code, but not such a great explainer.
This is a good point. But for me, it's a show-stopper. Because when I ask a question, and there is no answer, there is nothing to write down. I assume that no one actually understands what the answer is. I've put the user manual aside. Maybe all that I want to know is there in Russian, but that does me no good. I certainly don't fault a Russian for writing in Russian. I actually started learning Russian years ago, because I thought of them as major players in the science field. But then most of the people I worked with spoke pretty good English...not great, but we could have a conversation, and I could connect the dots. So I stopped learning Russian. Rats. Well, too late to start now...
BTW, this discussion is not limited to this device. I spent 10 years working with PhDs who had the same lazy attitude. Too busy getting ahead of the next PhD to write down what they were doing. Before I left that group, they had hired //another// PhD to work in the lab ///// to reconstruct what had happened 10 years earlier /// because they were too lazy to write it down, and then had the misfortune to need it.
I agree that we all get to choose how we spend our time. The scarcity of information is actually a time-saver for me.
~R~
72/73 de Rich NE1EE
The Dusty Key
On the banks of the Piscataqua
Rich NE1EE