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I understand your skepticism when details are hidden, but there can be some valid reasons: * details are so technical that they're hard to explain without "jus

I understand your skepticism when details are hidden, but there can be some valid reasons: * details are so technical that they're hard to explain without "just look at the code type explanations". I've run into this roadblock trying to explain the Spark Catalyst optimizer. * Not truly understanding all the details, so you can't explain the tech. Sometimes the documentation writer can't provide a "plain English" overview of the technology. * the details are the proprietary IP / secret sauce of the company The inner workings of a proprietary query engine are a good example of all three. It may be great tech, but hard to explain and part of it are the secret sauce that they don't want to expose. Not exposing something doesn't necessarily mean they're hiding something / being dishonest.

marcosdumay 5y ago
> details are so technical that they're hard to explain without "just look at the code type explanations". > Sometimes the documentation writer can't provide a "plain English" overview of the technology. So lead your marketing material with the code and explanations or tutorials, or whatever. (But I'm repeating the article now...) > the details are the proprietary IP / secret sauce of the company This one isn't reasonable. It's the detail of how to use and how it can be used that are important, not how it works. If you can't tell those, how do people use your product? Do you make your customers sign an NDA before they buy it? (Yeah, some products do require an NDA before you buy them, you can expect those ones to be very hard to sell.)
TheCoelacanth 5y ago
> the details are the proprietary IP / secret sauce of the company That may seem like a valid reason to the seller, but as a user it's a red flag to take your business elsewhere