Visit random info files?

Visit random info files?

[Ryan Bowman]

Prefacing my question, I know nothing of info files,
is it possible to write a function that visits a
randomly chosen page from all available info files?
If so, Would someone be willing to instruct me on how
such a function could be composed (or is there one
already)?

When there's not a specific subject I'm seeking to
learn I'd like to be able to jump around randomly to
find new things to learn.  It's great fun on the wiki,
just make a bookmark to
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki?action=random .

Thanks.

----
Ryan Bowman

While any text editor can save your files, only Emacs can save your soul. -- Per Abrahamsen

----

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Re: Visit random info files?

[Joe Corneli]

   Prefacing my question, I know nothing of info files,
   is it possible to write a function that visits a
   randomly chosen page from all available info files?

Yes, in Emacs anything is possible.

   If so, Would someone be willing to instruct me on how
   such a function could be composed (or is there one
   already)?

Can you index the collection of all info pages?  If so, then it is
trivial to make a random selection from this index.

Re: Visit random info files?

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

Ryan Bowman <ryanlbowman@yahoo.com> writes:

> Would someone be willing to instruct me on how
> such a function could be composed (or is there one
> already)?

some scheme that does this for a specific info file:

  http://www.glug.org/people/ttn/software/ttn-do/dist/random-info-node.scm

relevant bit is on line 42 (what a coincidence! ;-).

thi

Re: Visit random info files?

[Alan Mackenzie]

Ryan Bowman <ryanlbowman@yahoo.com> wrote on Wed, 11 May 2005 14:30:38
-0700 (PDT):
> Prefacing my question, I know nothing of info files, is it possible to
> write a function that visits a randomly chosen page from all available
> info files?  If so, Would someone be willing to instruct me on how such
> a function could be composed (or is there one already)?

Maybe it's not quite what you're looking for, but C-u C-h i might do.  It
loads the file you tell it as an info file.

> Ryan Bowman

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
(like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").