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I think they are doing themselves a disservice by ignoring something that elevates overall understanding, ease of onboarding/troubleshooting and generally, the
by noisy_boy 6y ago
I think they are doing themselves a disservice by ignoring something that elevates overall understanding, ease of onboarding/troubleshooting and generally, the polish, of the project. I love documentation and usually manage to set aside time to add details in the README/wiki etc. It is a great way to share details with others and myself, six months down the line, because I don't have a super sharp memory.
- davidhyde 6y agoThis is true but the “curse of knowledge” from the article explains why this can happen. It is easy for outsiders like you and me to see the value of such things but as an insider you can become blinded by your knowledge.
- noisy_boy 6y agoThat is possible. Though I equally like documenting things where I can be considered an "insider" that I know only other "insiders" will see. I think that it is about being able to see the usefulness, and beauty, of a well made documentation irrespective of the level of familiarity/proximity. Either you see value in it or you don't.
- kortilla 6y agoIt depends. A README for a custom TCP implementation does not need a section explaining what TCP is, that’s just clutter. Some types of projects are targeting a specific user group that has to have some level of knowledge. Example: The readme for ripgrep does not explain what a shell is or how to pipe output.