Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 23:33:57 +0100 From: Nik Clayton <nik@nothing-going-on.demon.co.uk> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Mark Newton <newton@internode.com.au>, hm@hcs.de, nick.hibma@jrc.it, dfr@nlsystems.com, peter@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Microsoft performance (was: All this and documentation too? (was: cvs commit: src/sys/isa sio.c)) Message-ID: <19990623233357.A43818@catkin.nothing-going-on.org> In-Reply-To: <19990623163928.E581@freebie.lemis.com>; from Greg Lehey on Wed, Jun 23, 1999 at 04:39:28PM %2B0930 References: <19990623084919.R76907@freebie.lemis.com> <199906230652.XAA00630@dingo.cdrom.com> <19990623163928.E581@freebie.lemis.com>
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On Wed, Jun 23, 1999 at 04:39:28PM +0930, Greg Lehey wrote:
> > But Mark illustrates my point perfectly; developers don't write
> > documentation. That's what camp followers are for. So far, we have
> > the ones that whine about the loot and throw mud at us when we march
> > too slowly, but not enough of the ones that sew our banners, mend our
> > pots and pans, or teach our version of the gospel to the heathens we
> > subdue.
>
> You can never get enough of them.
And you don't get them by calling them "camp followers" either.
You get them by supporting them. Documentation doesn't spring out of
thin air. If (to pick an example) the new syscons stuff[1] is undocumented
then someone's got to document it.
Right now, that can only be done by the original developers. In three
month's time we might have enough people who have written code with it
that they could do it.
And in a year's time we might have someone who's been diligently
following the mailing lists and has managed to piece something together
based on what they've soon. Or who has been forced to use this mass of
undocumented code[2], worked out how it works, *and* taken the time to
write the documentation.
So, when do you want useful documentation?
N
[1] Chosen at random. I haven't looked at it, so have no idea how clear
or easy to follow the syscons code is.
[2] See footnote 1 again.
--
[intentional self-reference] can be easily accommodated using a blessed,
non-self-referential dummy head-node whose own object destructor severs
the links.
-- Tom Christiansen in <375143b5@cs.colorado.edu>
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