Re: Documenting HW vs SW

["Yves C. Munger, p.eng., M.Sc.A." <yvesm -at- QUEBEC -dot- BERCLAIN -dot- COM>]

Richard Lippincott writes:

>*Software is less painful. If a software writer and a hardware writer both
>drop their company's product on their feet, the hardware writer's foot will
>hurt more.

>One last point, and I want to stress this this one very very much:

>Hardware writers and software writers are EQUAL in skill, brains, and talent.
>I'm certain that any hardware tech writer can transition to software.  I have
>no doubt that any software tech writer could have handled the hardware jobs
>I've done over the past ten years.

This is about the only two points that are valid in this discussion (the second
 one is true, the first not always:  I've
seen some pretty large software packages in my days, and some pretty small
 pieces of equipment ;-)).  As a matter
of fact, I rather consider that both have their special difficulties...

Being an engineer by training, I personally find that writing for software is
 more difficult, because it requires a lot
more imagination and synthesis capabilities.  Remember that the two types of
 writting are directed at radically
different people!

Feels good flamin' on a friday afternoon
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 Yves C. Munger, p.eng.
E-mail: yvesm -at- quebec -dot- berclain -dot- com (Yves C. Munger, ing.)
"To boldly go..."  Ahhh  Shut up!
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