By Larry Press
Communications of the ACM,
July 1991,
Vol. 34 No. 7, Pages 25-29
10.1145/105783.105789
Comments
Finally, new and interesting ideas about documentation.
It is kind of funny, really. Most documentation is written by technicians—not professional writers. And most technicians would include documentation among their top ten complaints regarding the software they use. Physician, heal thyself.
This column describes ideas and suggestions from current literature on software documentation. I hope they will change the way you think about documentation. If you are in the software field, it is almost certain that you will have to write documentation, for either your peers or your users. If you are designing software, you owe it to those you serve to gain an enlightened attitude toward documentation, recognizing the interconnectedness of the software, its documentation, and the help system. Otherwise, you are not a “practical programmer.”
The full text of this article is premium content
No entries found
Log in to Read the Full Article
Need Access?
Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.
Create a Web Account
If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.
Join the ACM
Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.
Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine
Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.
Purchase the Article
Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.
