Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks
Do you know where your variables are?
 
PerlMonks  

Re: Re: Writing Good Documentation

by blackjudas (Pilgrim)
on Jun 25, 2002 at 17:26 UTC ( [id://177148]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re: Writing Good Documentation
in thread Writing Good Documentation

Absolutely 100% agreed. I cannot go forth from documentation written by someone who assumes the verbage provided gives enough information in one place to make good use of it. Learning Perl is my one prime example, the documentation provided (once you're used to the semantics) is indispensible, but at times confusing, the examples provided are excellent but may not apply to the issue at hand. I found myself trying to find definitions for words used in the documentation. Feeling completely at odds with it, I found Perl Monks and the rest is history.

Examples of any kind are your friend, supply novice, intermediate and expert examples then try to mix it up. This may make your documentation larger but I think it would appeal to a larger audience.

BlackJudas

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: Re: Writing Good Documentation
by ignatz (Vicar) on Jun 25, 2002 at 17:41 UTC
    I've been very impressed with the way Bruce Eckel deals with it in his books. All of the examples are automatically built so that he can veryify that they actually compile.

    Makes me start to think about a test/example system where the examples of a script are also some of it's tests. That way as you change your code the tests don't just point out errors in code but also where you need to update your examples to reflect changes in the code. Hmmmm.......

    ()-()
     \"/
      `                                                     
    

Log In?
Username:
Password:

What's my password?
Create A New User
Domain Nodelet?
Node Status?
node history
Node Type: note [id://177148]
help
Chatterbox?
and the web crawler heard nothing...

How do I use this?Last hourOther CB clients
Other Users?
Others having an uproarious good time at the Monastery: (3)
As of 2024-04-24 04:14 GMT
Sections?
Information?
Find Nodes?
Leftovers?
    Voting Booth?

    No recent polls found