RE: RE: Why should a tech writer learn XML?

["John Posada" <JPosada -at- isogon -dot- com>]

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Re: RE: Why should a tech writer learn XML?

>"John Posada" <JPosada -at- isogon -dot- com> wrote in message
news:235838 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
>
>>..It's why "add as many examples as you can, and when you think you 
>>have enough, add more" is one mantra for developer docs.
>
>Sorry.. In my opinion, these are hacks, as are technical writers who 
>believe that if their documentation has 50,000 words, it's 2X better 
>than one with 25,000 words.

The best programmers out there know that when they face a problem, it's
probably already been solved by someone else. Or something similar has.
To know that such solutions exist, to know where to look for them, and
to leverage them whenever possible, increases efficiency and
productivity.

-----Reply Message-----

First...I agree that it is wrong to maintain that every line of code be
written every time, and yes, if I find content that I can use, I'll use
it as the basis of my content. However, by the time I'm done, it will no
longer even come close resembling the borrowed content.

However...here's my problem. A certain piece of code does something. If
you use that piece of code, you will do the same thing, or close to it,
depending on how you tweak it.

I'd like to believe that the original piece of code was written to do
something the way the TARGETED USER needed something to be implemented
(as opposed to how the developer thought it should be implemented). 

By reusing that code, the developer who is reusing the piece of code is
implementing something the way the previous user needed it to be
implemented and the new developer doesn't know who that user was or what
the user's needs were.

How does the new developer avoid the pitfall of presenting the
functionality in a way that might have been appropriate for the original
targeted user, but differently for the new one?

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Isogon Corporation
http://www.isogon.com
  "Realizing Your Business Goals 
   Through Software Asset Management"



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