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Subject:Re: Rant: Giving up on XML From:"Edgar D' Souza" <edgar -dot- b -dot- dsouza -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"David Castro" <thejavaguy -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:35:30 +0530
<g> Some of them use DocBook. Others use different docs systems, some
XML-based, some not (mind, I'm no professor here, I may be wrong).
It's the old chicken-and-egg story. To help document a project, you
have to learn to use the tool(s) they use; if you don't, you're a
high-maintenance prima donna.
I want to learn DocBook not only because it's open-source (well, open
standards PLUS a lot of tools that are open-source as well), but also
because by learning it I improve my value to my employer and can also
then contribute to projects that use DocBook for their documentation.
I'm a member of a (mostly dormant) Yahoo Group called FOSS Docs, which
set out with great aims - to start plugging away at the huge lack of
decent documentation in the open-source world. Predictably, members
are not only busy with their own work, but I suspect some are also
intimidated by the learning curve associated with DocBook and other
OSS documentation tools. I know that I am! :-)
Some projects you could probably document the user interface to. I
mean, Michael D. McIntyre's been on this list for quite a while now,
he's one of the outstanding examples of documentation in the
open-source world. Perhaps he could give us a few tips?
Ed.
On 3/13/07, David Castro <thejavaguy -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> On 3/12/07, siliconwriter -at- comcast -dot- net <siliconwriter -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
> > If any of you fellow tech writers who actually UNDERSTANDS XML ever gets around to
> > documenting it so that technically savvy but non-programmer audiences can understand
> > and/or use it, I will be very grateful.
>
> It was interesting to read this after I read the following article a
> couple of days ago:
>http://www.digg.com/programming/Open_Source_Programmer_Rants_Against_Leeches
>
> I'm the first to admit to being an Open Source leech, using a bunch of
> Apache Jakarta products, MySQL, and other FOSS without contributing
> back to any of the products that I use, so don't think I'm waggling a
> finger, because I'd have to point it at myself, first.
>
> I've considered getting involved in helping to document an open source
> product, but I'm always daunted by the idea of crawling code to try to
> figure out what a software product does. Maybe I should be less
> fearful, and just give it a try, so I can remove this leech label from
> my forehead.
>
> Anyone out there who contributes to one or more FOSS projects want to
> give any tips on getting started in FOSS documentation?
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