Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Docs, code and desire
Author: Philip Suh Posted: 3/29/1999; 8:56:07 PM Topic: Sample code and utilities? Msg #: 4682 (In response to 4672) Prev/Next: 4681 / 4683 Paul's points about documentation are well taken: I understand the need to have real usable docs. I haven't released a major suite in a while because it is a major effort to put out something that's polished and well documented.Paul has done an admirable job with his docs for xmltr--I love the PDF version. I've been playing with PDF's for the docs on NewsCenter while I was retooling it for F5 (and now F6).
Brian Anderson's docs and website for blox are a real accomplishment as well. (there are other examples as well)
Stop thinking like programmers all the time and learn to think like marketers sometimes --- how do you make your work attractive and useful to someone else?
Let me turn that question inside out: how does a Frontier coder make his work attractive and useful for himself? In other words, what's in it for the Frontier script-writer?
I've got lots of suites that I've developed, for things both interesting and trivial--but only a fraction of them are in the public domain.
It's all about time and desire. Making something useful is one thing--making it usable by the general public is another effort entirely. Given the time I have, do I release software with no/poor docs? or do I not release the software?
What's my motivation for releasing software? For me, there's the joy of creating something useful, elegant, or clever (this may sound odd, but the name of the suite is often more important to me than what the suite actually does). There's the recognition of my peers. There's a sense of repaying all the people who helped me get started by giving something back to the community.
What deters me from releasing software? Lack of time, energy. The sense that my contribution is not unique, is not new, or is not particularly useful. The effort involved in writing docs, answering questions and fixing bugs.
Now, to be honest, the plusses usually far outweigh the minuses. I enjoy more than anything interacting with people in this community. And once I get past the initial dread of writing docs/publishing, the positive feedback I get is very rewarding. It's just the bit of energy required to get over the initial hump.
Well, I'm obviously rambling. ;-) I can do that here, right?
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