Comment by integraleq
16 years ago
this is an excellent post and quite relevant. i have found this kind of epiphany as well while writing a python based framework at my company. i would extend the README driven approach to even suggest a developer blog driven design methodology, since it allows for a more dynamic way to clarify points and also add diary entries for 'thinking aloud' while you are building complicated libraries.
no. blogs are not a substitute for documentation.
ruby has been suffering this for too long.
blogs have several problems:
- they don't get updated - they don't get patched - they don't ship with the software - they break when the user dies / moves / leaves / changes software - they have a lower signal to noise ratio
- they accumulate Google juice over time, overpowering advice for newer versions of your framework.
Or even worse, when half the documentation is a screencast.
You are correct. So I suppose I should alter my previous post by saying that it is a good way to go iff you are also willing to be diligent in your updates to keep the documentation as current as possible.