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Subject:Writers as programmers From:"Huber, Mike" <Mike -dot- Huber -at- SOFTWARE -dot- ROCKWELL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 9 Nov 1995 11:41:32 -0500
I have kind of a different perspective here: I used to be
a programmer. In several companies, I was expected to
write manuals for my programs. Fortunately, that practice
is going away.
There is a big danger to being able to read code: it changes
your perspective from the front of the program to the back.
You get caught up in details that the reader has no interest in.
You see how the programmer thinks the program works,
instead of how the user sees it working.
On the other hand, if the software you are documenting is
programming oriented (function libraries, compilers, stuff
like that) then you do need a certain amount of programming
ability in order to see the software the way the reader does.
That being said, I'm eagerly awaiting a Visual Basic course.
