Re: SDK documentation

Subject: Re: SDK documentation
From: David Castro <thejavaguy -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:18:16 -0400


On 7/28/05, Carrie Baker <carriebak -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> The programmer is working in C++ and has created an html file that is
> automatically generated, listing all of the classes and commands, what
> they are comprised of and what they do. (I have checked the English).
>
> Do I need to copy all of this information to also create a PDF file
> (my source would be Frame for this) so there will be an "SDK User
> Guide", or is the integrated html considered sufficient?

If I was to go to a SDK User Guide and find the same material in there
as in the Javadoc (or the equivalent that you're creating), I would be
rather annoyed. I expect the SDK User Guide to have more information
on the SDK than datatypes, method signatures, and class hierarchies. I
expect it to have an explanation on when to use the HierarchicalTable
versus the TreeTable, to have example code for each
component/method/data structure, and to talk about how each of the
things can fit together. That kind of information is what really makes
a product's SDK useful.

In fact, while there isn't a hard-and-fast rule as to what separates
an "API" from a "SDK," in my opinion, what I describe is an SDK, where
what you were provided (likely) is an API. I'll caveat that by saying
that the developer may have embedded the features that I discussed in
the HTML file that he provided you...though I'd be surprised!

-David Castro
thejavaguy -at- gmail -dot- com

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Follow-Ups:

References:
SDK documentation: From: Carrie Baker

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