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Subject:RE: What are "advanced" API topics? From:"Glenn Maxey" <glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 29 May 2001 17:37:11 -0600
"Tool wars".
What tools are available for various languages? What are their strengths?
What are their weaknesses? How flexible are they? What output do they
produce?
I realize that Walden, Lydia, et al put little stock in tools. Rightly so.
The tech writer is still going to have to hit the trenches, still gonna have
to understand the big picture, still gonna have to figure it out.
However, at the very least, tools can tell you accurately over-and-over the
structure of the code. They tell you what's new and what went away. They
tell you accurately the arguments to a function. They can tell you who
inherits from whom, what are member functions for a given class. They tell
you all documentable code item types (enumerations, types, structs, classes,
functions, etc.)... anything that is fit to use by another programmer.
Granted, the tech writer is still going to have to put some meat on the
bones. However, sometimes the bones is all you got and they aren't in the
right order. In fact, sometimes the bones are buried. Tools help make a
skeleton, give it some structure, give it some organization.
And even after you have the tools, what strategies are there for using them
efficiently.
Hence, "tool wars" is very much valid as an advanced API topic.
Glenn Maxey
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com
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