Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 09:31:24 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Constantine Shkolny <stan@osgroup.com> Cc: "hackers@FreeBSD.ORG" <hackers@FreeBSD.org> Subject: All this and documentation too? (was: Microsoft performance (was: All this and documentation too? (was: cvs commit: src/sys/isa sio.c))) Message-ID: <19990627093124.N427@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <01BEBFCB.F95F6F00.stan@osgroup.com>; from Constantine Shkolny on Sat, Jun 26, 1999 at 12:03:59PM -0500 References: <01BEBFCB.F95F6F00.stan@osgroup.com>
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On Saturday, 26 June 1999 at 12:03:59 -0500, Constantine Shkolny wrote: > On Saturday, June 26, 1999 8:08 AM, Nick Hibma [SMTP:hibma@skylink.it] > wrote: >>> Programmers need documentation too. >> >> And they are going to scream like mad if there isn't any. But in the end >> they start reading the code anyway, even if there is docu, because they >> don't trust anything but their own eyes and brain. >> >> It's all documented in C anyway. > > I've come to understanding that lack of documentation is probably one of > the factors that keep the system healthy, because it keeps the unskilled > people away. I don't know whether it's true but I read in books that > reading code is one of the methods to learn programming. Since FreeBSD > does ship with source code, docs are not necessary. NT ships with poorly > written docs instead, and, that is what kills it all the time, despite of > its perfect design that I really like. People write NT drivers without > full understanding what is going on, so they destabilize the system. I can't agree with this theory. Lack of documentation just moves the degree of skill needed to, for example, write device drivers. Document less well and your average device driver writer will write a worse driver, with or without source code access. Source code access helps too, of course. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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