Re: Have to know Programming to be able to write about it? -- NO

[Paul DuBois <paul -at- kitebird -dot- com>]

> >The expert is often the worst person to write
> >about their subject, because they no longer 
> >see it with the naivete of the new user.
> >Hence the manuals that leave out crucial steps
> >because "tsk, everyone _knows_ you're supposed
> >to do X before Y". Remember all those unusable 
> >manuals in the early days of computers? Written
> >by computer experts, not communication experts.
> 
> No...a bad WRITER is the worst person to write about subjects. A good writer
> not only knows the subject, but knows how to write for the user and if the
> writer knows the user is "Igor, the 3rd shift NOC operator who's on his
> first week and the sirens went off", then that expert will write at that
> level. A good writer can write down...an uninformed writer cannot write up.

Beth, maybe you can clarify here, but wasn't your point that being
an expert doesn't necessarily help you write well?

Certainly, a writer possessing lots of knowledge on a subject will write
better than possessing none.  But the expert with knowledge may not necesarily
write well at all.

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