[Numpy-discussion] Willing to contribute to SciPy & NumPy ...

[Benjamin Root]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:29 PM, Christopher Barker
<Chris.Barker at noaa.gov>wrote:

> On 3/31/11 12:04 PM, Anthony Scopatz wrote:
>
> > (with which I am inclined to agree), documentation is probably not the
> > best way to get started.
>
> I agree as well. However, I think newbies can be a great help in
> identifying holes in the documentation -- so when documentation is
> missing or unclear, ask here, and then you'll have something to contribute.
>
>
+1 on this.  The biggest problem with developers writing documentation for
tools like NumPy is that we have already become accustom to the quirks and
assumptions of the tool.  Fresh minds are perfect for identifying problem
areas in the docs.

The problem I have seen, though, is that it becomes so easy to just answer
the user's question and then just move on.  We really need to better remind
ourselves that each time someone has to ask an "easy" question, it is a
failing with our documentation.

"What if it was already in the docs", you ask?  Then the question is, why
couldn't they find it (or recognize it)?

"What if they didn't read the documentation", you say?  Then the question
becomes how did our documentation fail to be read?

Just food for thought...

Ben Root
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