Documentation: Effective and literate

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how documentation can be literate, in a stylistic sense, and still be effective. Literate prose is a powerful tool that, when properly used in computer documentation, can take advantage of the full power of the English language. This does not mean that all computer documentation must or can read like a Nobel Prize novel, but neither does it have to read like a military cryptogram. A happy medium founded on healthy grammar and syntax, and following the logic of the software being documented is a good AND obtainable goal.