From cubranic at stat.ubc.ca  Sat Apr  2 02:13:21 2011
From: cubranic at stat.ubc.ca (Davor Cubranic)
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 17:13:21 -0700
Subject: [Rd] Phrase "package writer" in R-exts
In-Reply-To: <06cc01cbf0a1$63fff1f0$2bffd5d0$@gmail.com>
References: <CCD49859-DA7D-439B-B75A-06082BDFF57D@stat.ubc.ca>
	<06cc01cbf0a1$63fff1f0$2bffd5d0$@gmail.com>
Message-ID: <0214C4D0-E848-4F91-9245-AA2F12E4C1E2@stat.ubc.ca>

On 2011-04-01, at 12:17 PM, Ted Byers wrote:

> Note, while I see the author's
> responsibility to write perfectly (or at least try), the reader also has a
> responsibility to work at determining what the author meant by what he or
> she wrote.

Most people don't read reference manuals to engage with the author (writer?) and analyze the subtext, but to find relevant information quickly.

For the programmer I was talking to at least (a native English speaker, BTW), R-exts fell short in that respect. When I first heard about his confusion I also thought "how can you miss that?", but now believe that the manual would be improved by replacing "writer" with "author". It is already dense enough with real information, why make it more obscure ?

Davor


[Rd] Phrase "package writer" in R-exts
Davor Cubranic