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Subject:Re: couple of questions From:Ian Macdonald <imacd -at- PC -dot- JARING -dot- MY> Date:Tue, 7 Nov 1995 15:50:05 +0800
>We're under fire at work. Suddenly our boss thinks that tech writers
>ought to be able to read C and do telephony scripting using C
>commands. He says that he and the president of our company think that
>"most tech writers ought to be capable of this." Is this true? The
>engineers who are currently helping us (two tech writers) say they've
>never known a tech writer who can write these scripts, but I'm
>wondering if there is something I don't know about the rest of the
>tech writers out there!
>I have seen books like "Teach Yourself C in 21 days" --- has anyone
>tried this and how helpful was it? I'm willing to buy the book with
>the thought that I might at least become knowledgeable about C,
>though I do not entertain any thoughts of becoming a C programmer.
>Anybody care to jump into the midst of what I suspect is more
>political than practical at our company? I need to know...bad news or
>good news.
Jane,
Are your engineers expected to write the documentation? Given that you have
tech. writers I would suspect the answer is NO!
I have picked up enough knowledge of programming languages (including C)
over the years because with some jobs it is beneficial. I am not, and never
will be, a programmer. It is a bit like working with a translator. I know
enough French to be aware of what is going on, but don't ask me to do the
translation. The same goes for progamming languages.
Good luck...
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Ian Macdonald * Technical writing
24C Jalan Ampang Hilir * On-line help systems
55000, Kuala Lumpur * Web page design
Malaysia * Desktop publishing
* Database design and publishing
Voice: (03) 452 7553
Fax: (03) 453 2910 Email: imacd -at- pc -dot- jaring -dot- my
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