Wolfram Alpha is a customizable Knowledge Engine that provides for natural language queries on many subjects including calculations, people, technology, etc. My suggestion is that SideFx should setup a Wolfram Alpha system and load their documentation into it. This would replace the low quality online Houdini documentation, which uses the extremely lame Google Search engine to process. Here is an example where FVG is using Wolfram Alpha: http://fvg.com [fvg.com]
I have no fiduciary interest in Wolfram Research. This is just what SideFx should do and it will work (but they probably won't because that is the nature of a paradigm shift). By instrumenting the Wolfram Alpha api through Mathematica, which is also connected to SideFx Houdini and simultaneously to Autodesk Maya and Mudbox, I have created the basis for the platform to automate modeling and animation and its related VFX fields of application.
The system is more powerful than the sum of its parts.
VR
Lars