RE: new tech writer and XML

[John Posada <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>]

> When I suggested XML and web services, I assumed readers 
> would realize I was 
> suggesting that the real work in web  services will be the corporate 
> documentation that needs to interface with it. All the gee 

I was kinda keyed into the response by someone else, it went something like
this, and I'm VERY loosely paraphrasing..."How much work does it take to
document a few API calls?"

You know what they say about assumed. Do you want to know how many times I
get off-list questions along this line: "You work for a web...what is there
to document? I mean, if you need to document it to give someone instructions
on how to use it, shouldn't you instead change the way it works?"

I said in a previous message that the search engine we use, in terms of web
service, most people see it as a small plug-in to their browser (no, not
Google). What they don't see is what's involved to "internalize" it at the
magnitude required for modern corporate web configurations.

This is where the work lies when we discuss "web services". The part a
consumer sees is only the very small tip of an extremely large iceberg.
Companies just cannot spend the money or time to create everything
homegrown, but even though using web services may be more economical, it's
all relative...3 months to implement an existing web service as opposed to
12 months to build from scratch

For example..the quote on one of Darren's' pages
(http://www.capescience.com/education/primer/index.shtml): "Web services
have emerged as the next generation of Web-based technology for exchanging
information. Web services are modular, self-describing, self-contained
applications that are accessible over the Internet. Based on open standards,
Web services enable you to build Web-based applications using any platform,
object model,...."  This is true. However, just like any business process,
often a whole company must transform the way it does business (an example
being CRM and B2B applications) to integrate those applications so they are
part of the business instead of a standalone application. 

Darren posted some very interesting links earlier today that anyone
interested in this area should look into...in my opinion, it's a goldmine of
documentation waiting to be discovered. BTW...for some very attractive
documentation, check the docs available through Darren's Capeclear web
site...very professional...and I have no stake in him, his company, or his
products.

John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
Barnes&Noble.com
jposada -at- book -dot- com
NY: 212-414-6656
Dayton: 732-438-3372
You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that
never were; and I say "Why not?"
-----George Bernard Shaw,  Back to Methuselah, 1921


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