Re: Have to know Programming to be able to write about it? -- NO
The student wondered if it was necessary to take programming in addition to
a technical communication program.
It depends on what you mean by "writing about programming". If you want to write about APIs, programming tools, developments systems, etc. at least some programming experience is, if not required, at least very desirable.
If you want to write about the results of programmer's efforts, i.e., software applications, first-hand programming knowledge is often beside the point.
In both cases, you primarily need to know how to use the system or object that you describe. When documenting programmers' stuff, that means being able to program yourself. When documenting applications, it means being able to use the application as a real customer would.
Programming knowledge might help you gain additional insights in the latter case as well, but I'd classify it as 'nice to have', whereas it is hard to do without in the former case.
Regards
Jan Henning
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Jan Henning
ROSEMANN & LAURIDSEN GMBH
Am Schlossberg 14, D-82547 Eurasburg, Germany
Phone: +49 700 0200 0700, Fax: +49 8179 9307-12
E-Mail: henning -at- r-l -dot- de, Web: www.r-l.de
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