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Do you download documentation for offline browsing?

1 2022-08-20 09:41

Do you prefer to download programming documentation for offline browsing, or do you prefer to search online? For example, do you download your personal copy of the HyperSpec or do you use an online version? Do you search for Python functions on https://docs.python.org/3/ or do you search using your offline copy?

2 2022-08-20 10:22 *

https://www.gnu.org/software/guile/manual/
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/mit-scheme-doc
https://docs.python.org/3/download.html
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/openjdk-8-doc

3 2022-08-20 11:03

Offline, but the *-doc packages are often updated separately from their related software packages in the Arch repos, which has fooled me before when I expected them to reference the same version.

4 2022-08-20 15:24

>>3
Not surprising, considering the low average quality of software in the Arch Linux repositories.

5 2022-08-20 15:25

>>4
s/software/packages/

6 2022-08-20 16:08

7 2022-08-21 00:54

I think you should always download a copy for offline use. This way, no one will be able to spy on your internet search habits to target you for advertisements that encourage you to buy more useless junk.

8 2022-08-21 16:04

Print all your manuals with a cheap laser printer

9 2022-08-22 00:01 *

>>8

bloated printer

nope, pen plotter or dot matrix

10 2022-08-26 04:45

Noise is bloat

11 2022-08-27 04:53

Just use the Zeal offline documentation browser: https://zealdocs.org

12 2022-08-27 20:32

Usually I view the online versions, but sometimes I use a shell script to download individual pages I like. (It takes a url as an argument.)

#!/usr/bin/bash
wget \
	--page-requisites \
	--html-extension \
	--convert-links \
	--execute robots=off \
	--user-agent="" \
	--wait=10 \
	--random-wait \
	$1

13 2022-09-01 15:02

I prefer using Texinfo documentation whenever possible since it's easily browseable offline from inside Emacs. I've actually been preparing a CLHS rendition using Texinfo, based on the GCL texinfo manual. Using the index features, navigating it is a lot easier than html.

14 2022-09-01 20:35

i never read docs

15 2022-09-01 23:18

>>14
You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

16 2022-09-02 11:23

I never did before, but I'm considering it as an option so that I don't risk getting distracted. With the docs offline I can turn off the internet. Though I still rely on stack overflow sometimes, and downloading all of its answers seems unpractical

17 2022-09-02 18:44

I really liked how TurboC had documentation for everything built into the IDE. No one makes stuff that comfy anymore.

18 2022-09-03 14:43 *

>>17
i think stalford/silverfrost fortran has too, and open watcom, and dec/compaq, and fujitsu...

good times

19 2022-09-04 04:35

I use Debian and Ubuntu. I just download the corresponding *-doc package when I download a piece of software. For example, I download the mit-scheme-doc package to get offline documentation of MIT Scheme in /usr/share/doc/mit-scheme-doc/.

20 2022-09-04 14:14

I always liked using Guile since their texinfo manual is very comprehensive and easily available from Emacs.

21 2022-09-06 07:56

>>1
Depends on how modern the website is trying to be. If I have to fight against the css then offline it is.

22