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Subject:RE: What are "advanced" API topics? From:"Haas, Guy" <ghaas -at- selectica -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 29 May 2001 16:59:29 -0700
Hi Susan--
Two speakers who proposed topics to the 2001 STC Conference planned
to speak on "generating reference manuals from comments in code."
So, both Manuel Gordon and Gregory S. Rakauskas presented in one
session on Wednesday morning.
Manny spoke on Doxygen, and Greg on Doc++.
- - - -
I have been working at documenting several forms of the same API.
* one that follows the C calling conventions and returns data structures
* one that follows the C calling conventions and returns an XML string
* one that follows the COM calling conventions and returns data structures
* one that follows the COM calling conventions and returns an XML string
and (except for a small percentage of cases in which the two C flavors
offer a couple of capabilities the COM flavors do not, and vice versa)
all have basically the same function signatures: one or more input
parameters and one structure or XML-string output parameter.
I'm using all the single-sourcing capabilities that FrameMaker offers
(conditional text, variables, and text insets) and generating all 4 from
one fundamental corpus.
Now, there are also a Java version and an EJB version that tread much
of the same ground, but are truly object oriented, so I have to manage
them separately, but still....
Exploring ways to capitalize on the inherent redundancy in such
APIs might be an element of "advance API topics."
--Guy K. Haas ghaas -at- selectica -dot- com
Software Exegete in Silicon Valley
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