Software Engineering discussion

Once again, one of the biggest changes over the decades is the de-emphasis of documentation for end-user applications. I once worked on a computer system that had paper manuals that took up far more space and weight than the computer system it described. How many iOS or Android apps come with a manual?

Documentation of computer languages and operating system and framework APIs is still important. Code documentation is still important, but much less so than in the past, where the rule of thumb is to assume that the code is clear enough (and that the high-level language is a readable one), so that it doesn't need additional documentation.

This chapter anticipates, but doesn't quite exactly describe, the self-documenting features of Javadoc (especially since hyperlinks didn't exist back then).

Mobile apps lacking documentation is a nice example. Video games are similar. Good (modern) video games either have a game play tutorial or play exactly like other games (joystick movement, trigger shoots, green button confirms, red button cancels, etc...).

I think experienced technical writers may have some good insight in to this chapter regarding "what works".