computer science

Wikipedia – The Missing Manual

Wikipedia – The Missing Manual is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wikipedia – The Missing Manual rather than just read about it. In short: Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is a 2008 book by John Broughton. It is a how-to guide that explains the process of contributing to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia.

Key takeaways

Wikipedia – The Missing Manual belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wikipedia – The Missing Manual to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wikipedia – The Missing Manual from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is a 2008 book by John Broughton. It is a how-to guide that explains the process of contributing to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is part of O'Reilly Media's Missing Manual series.

Release On January 26, 2009, O'Reilly announced that the content of the book was being released under a free license compatible with Wikipedia and that it would be available for editing in the Help area of Wikipedia. The book was released as part of O'Reilly Media's Missing Manual series which was created by David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times and Scientific American.

Spin-off The book has a spin-off, Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual, consisting of an expanded version of Appendix B and Chapter 1 from the book.

Reception "For anyone who is interested in becoming part of the noble experiment, this book is an excellent introduction," wrote reviewer Robert Slade.

Publications John Broughton (2008). Wikipedia: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN 978-0-596-51516-4. John Broughton (2008). Wikipedia Reader's Guide: The Missing Manual. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN 978-0-596-52174-5.

Further reading Baker, Nicholson (March 20, 2008). "The Charms of Wikipedia". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 55, no. 4. Archived from the original on March 3, 2008. Retrieved May 10, 2008. Baker, Nicholson (April 10, 2008). "How I fell in love with Wikipedia". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 5, 2024.

See also Help: Wikipedia: The Missing Manual: Text as incorporated into Wikipedia's help pages How Wikipedia Works Bibliography of Wikipedia State Library of Queensland's Exploring Wikipedia Content Creation Training Manual at Wikimedia Commons

References

External links Media related to The Missing Manual at Wikimedia Commons Wikipedia: The Missing Manual at O'Reilly Media. "Book release news: Learning to Write and Edit the Wikipedia Way". Archived from the original on June 10, 2012.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wikipedia – The Missing Manual

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wikipedia – The Missing Manual claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wikipedia – The Missing Manual before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wikipedia – The Missing Manual ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wikipedia – The Missing Manual

In research: Wikipedia – The Missing Manual appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wikipedia – The Missing Manual in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wikipedia – The Missing Manual is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2008 non-fiction books, Books about Wikipedia, Computer book stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wikipedia – The Missing Manual outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wikipedia – The Missing Manual in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wikipedia – The Missing Manual means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wikipedia – The Missing Manual out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wikipedia – The Missing Manual in simple terms?

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is a 2008 book by John Broughton. It is a how-to guide that explains the process of contributing to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia.

Why does Wikipedia – The Missing Manual matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wikipedia – The Missing Manual?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wikipedia – The Missing Manual.