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Subject:Re: Programmers as writers? From:"Simon North" <Simon -dot- North -at- synopsys -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 04 Dec 2002 09:39:25 +0100
I'm not very good at plumbing. If there's a repair job I can do it,
but I may not do it very well; I wouldn't guarantee the results and,
were I to do the job twice, the chances are that the second time
would turn out nothing like the first.
Programmers are not idiots. During my 25 years in software
engineering (as a programmer, as a quality engineer, and for the last
18 years as a writer) I have met quite a few programmers who were
very talented writers. This is not the point.
If I need some plumbing work done, I hire a plumber. She will be
faster, cheaper; will know the several ways, and the best way to do
the job; and will guarantee the results.
If you need documentation, you can give the task to a programmer.
Often -- dare I say nearly always -- the results will be indifferent,
unpredictable, slow and irreproducible (which translates into
unmaintainable). If you give the task to a writer, it will be
completed quicker; it can be completed in a variety of ways (the
writer will have the skills, experience and knowledge to be able to
offer trade-offs between speed, price and quality), and the results
will be predictable.
The bottom line is not about whether other people can do our work or
not, it's about whether in a commercial environment you prefer to use
an 'amateur' or a specialist .... I'd say 'professional' but that's a
different can of worms.
My 10 cents.
Simon North
tech writer and computer book author.
"Documentation is like sex: When it is good, it is very, very, good.
And when it is bad, it is better than nothing." -- Dick Brandon.
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