This manual has been created using Texinfo, a documentation system which is part of the GNU Project, whose main sponsor is the Free Software Foundation. Texinfo can be used to generate online and printed documentation from the same input files.
For more information about Texinfo, see:
Stallmann, Richard M. and Robert J. Chassell.
Texinfo. The GNU Documentation Format.
The Free Software Foundation. Boston 1999.
For more information about the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation, see the following web site: http://www.gnu.org.
The edition of this manual is 1.1.5.1 and it documents version 1.1.5.1 of 3DLDF. The edition number of the manual and the version number of the program are the same (as of 16 January 2004), but may diverge at a later date.
Note that "I", "me", etc., in this manual refers to Laurence D. Finston, so far the sole author of both 3DLDF and this manual. "Currently" and similar formulations refer to version 1.1.5.1 of 3DLDF as of 16 January 2004.
This manual is intended for both beginning and advanced users of 3DLDF. So, if there's something you don't understand, it's probably best to skip it and come back to it later. Some of the more difficult points, or ones that presuppose familiarity with features not yet described, are in the footnotes.
I firmly believe that an adequate program with good documentation is more useful than a great program with poor or no documentation. The ideal case, of course, is a great program with great documentation. I'm sorry to say, that this manual is not yet as good as I'd like it to be. I apologize for the number of typos and other errors. I hope they don't detract too much from its usefulness. I would have liked to have proofread and corrected it again before publication, but for reasons external to 3DLDF, it is necessary for me to publish now. I plan to set up an errata list on the official 3DLDF website, and/or my own website.
Unless I've left anything out by mistake, this manual documents all of the data types, constants and variables, namespaces, and functions defined in 3DLDF. However, some of the descriptions are terser than I would like, and I'd like to have more examples and illustrations. There is also more to be said on a number of topics touched on in this manual, and some topics I haven't touched on at all. In general, while I've tried to give complete information on the "what and how", the "why and wherefore" has sometimes gotten short shrift. I hope to correct these defects in future editions.