[lug] How reasonable to reverse latex stylesheets?

[D. Stimits]

If I wanted to figure out how to use a C or C++ code library, I could go
into the source and try to figure out what is going on, and the meaning
behind parameters. For someone like myself, who is not a LaTeX
stylesheet writer, or even experienced at using a particular stylesheet,
are there a set of lines I could perhaps use awk or grep with and reveal
the options and structure I should use for a particular .cls file?

Basically, if I want to learn article.cls, is there an awk or grep type
line I can use to speed up my understanding without outside
documentation? Article is just one class of course, there are lots of
them without much public documentation, although article seems common.

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

PS: I just found something interesting. Star Office (I think 5.1, an
older version) was better able to import a word document than a current
version of WordPerfect running on windows. I wish I could download the
new version, but I'd have to leave the machine running overnight for
several days. In any case, a Linux app beat out the windows app for
importing word (wordperfect lost formatting that was preserved under
Linux and Star Office).