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> Thanks to a
> list member
> named Lydia, (..you can learn a lot from Lydia..) who sent me an
> example of
> something I may be looking for, I think I need the following types of
> information in the document:
Geez, John, now I'm blushing. ; )
What I said to John, in summary, is it looks like he's saying he needs to
document COM objects in an application. Since our company sells COM objects,
I'm familiar with doing this, and sent John some samples of our docs (API
documentation for our COM components).
The extent to which you need to document components varies. Our audience
buys components from us, so it behooves us to document it well--saves calls
to tech support! Minimal API docs will include (as John mentioned) listings
of and descriptions for every member (property, method, what have you). If
you are writing for an internal audience, that might be enough--they could
always contact another internal source for more information if needed.
For us, documenting for external users means providing more than
descriptions, it means providing remarks with more information, some sample
code or links to larger sample projects, and more.
Those who are interested in finding out more about API docs or sharing in
discussions about them might want to join the API/SDK writers list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nettechwriters/. We're a nutty bunch, but we
try to stay on topic, so there's not too much traffic on the list.
Lydia
---------------------------------------
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com
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