C++ Course Response

[Nancy Keller <nkelle -at- CORP -dot- ATL -dot- COM>]

On May 27th Steve Foust wrote:

There was a thread a few weeks ago about Technical Writers and
Programming Skills and I just read back through it on the archive
server. There was some good information there, but I'd like to
revisit it from a slightly different direction.

I am helping out on a committee that is developing some continuing
ed course work for Technical Writers. One of the proposed courses
is tentatively titled "C++ for Technical Writers."

I have considered that I may be qualified to teach such a course,
and if not teach, at least help a great deal with the course
development.

So, as a technical writer, would you be interested in taking a
15 hr. course on a programming language specifically geared
towards technical writing? If so, what would you expect to learn?
What would you expect to be able to do after such a course that
you can't do now?

Would "sister" courses, such as "VB for Technical Writers," "OOP
for Technical Writers," or "Java for Technical Writers" be needed,
wanted, or required? Or is "C++ for Technical Writers" far too
specific to lead off. Would a basic course in "Programming for
Technical Writers" be better?

We can discuss this on the list (I assume) or you can send me
private email and I'll summarize later.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a technical writer who just completed a course in C++. All of the
people in my class were "wanna be" programmers. I was the only tech
writer in the class. If you designed a class specifically for technical
writers, how would it be different from regular programming classes?

I think programming classes in various languages would be very helpful
for technical writers. I learned so much from just one class. Now I am
wondering how I can put what I learned to good use. If you have any
suggestions, please let me know.

Where are you planning to teach these classes? At a company or
university? I would be interested in taking more of these classes.

-Nance

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