Re: [RFC PATCH 3/3] FAQ: sync newuser-install

[Daniel Shahaf <d.s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mikael Magnusson wrote on Fri, Sep 02, 2022 at 05:46:12 +0200:
> On 9/2/22, Felipe Contreras <felipe.contreras@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > It is unreasonable to force absolutely every new user to set these
> > options just to get started.
> 
> "Paste these lines in .zshrc to enable history" is not more
> complicated with 3 lines than 1, however much you want to argue that
> it is. They still need to find the line(s) to copy in the first place
> (or god forbid, read the documentation).

Copy-pasting three lines is as easy as one, sure.  /Understanding/ them,
however, is a different kettle of fish.  If one has set three special
variables, then one needs to read three zshparam(1) entries rather than
one.

(That's basically why I suggested divorcing "enable history" from
"specify the history filename": to reduce the number of moving parts
that need to be grokked.)

As an attempt at a minimal example, imagine showing either of the
following lines, chosen at random by a fair coin, to someone who's just
learning to read, and asking them what the line prints:

    printf "%s plus %s is %s." "One" "one" "2"

    printf "%s plus %s is %d." "One" "one" "2"

If we did the experiment, I think we'd find non-C-programmers are more
likely to correctly guess the first line than the second.

HTH

Daniel