Tuesday 23 September 2014

README

Welcome. Give yourself a pat on the back for actually reading a README!

This blog is going to touch on a whole range of eHealth related topics, so if you're interested in how technology is going to change health care stay tuned.

Now if your not a programmer the notion of a README may be unfamiliar, so I'll digress. On that note, you can expect quite a lot of digression in this blog as we wander the highways and byways of eHealth.

So getting back to the notion of a README.

In the open source world when a programmer writes a big application they usually write a file called, quite literally, README. Yes, it really is all caps!

This file contains things like instructions about how to install/use the application and other frequently asked questions.

Many people don't actually read the README and choose instead to email the developers.

Depending on the patience and mood of the programmer who receives this missive the answer may come back as a curt "RTFM" or the more incisive "There is a README did you READIT?"

Now what, you may ask, does this have to do with this blog?

Not a lot really, unless one day you happen to be walking around a tech event and see someone wearing a RTFM top in which case you will know you've just passed a geek with attitude.