Pressman's software engineering book defines software to be programs, data and documents. In open source projects, programs, in other words code always comes first. Data is there or users will use the code with their data, otherwise the code becomes totally hopeless. However, often, I find that the documents aspect is missing in most of the open source projects.
In other words, successful open source software should not only focus on code and functionality, but also on documentation. Otherwise it just becomes open code. I do agree that source code is the best form of documentation. But how many of us, in this busy world, would bother to look into code to figure things out. We have to think seriously about docs in open source software. Those projects that have good documents would survive, others would die over time.
In other words, successful open source software should not only focus on code and functionality, but also on documentation. Otherwise it just becomes open code. I do agree that source code is the best form of documentation. But how many of us, in this busy world, would bother to look into code to figure things out. We have to think seriously about docs in open source software. Those projects that have good documents would survive, others would die over time.
Comments