Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives At the completion of this subject students should understand technical documentation in a software engineering environment; be able to construct quality printed and on-line documentation, and appreciate the differences between the two; and have gained experience in current types of technical documentation media.
Synopsis Problems with paper-based and on-line documentation; types of technical documentation used in software engineering; document specifications; minimalist design philosophy; graphic design of technical documentation; the context of technical writing; the writing process (analysis, planning, generation, testing, revision and maintenance of written texts); document publication techniques (including HTML, LaTeX and Winhelp); the role of hypertext, hypermedia and markup languages in technical documentation; small-volume and large-volume hypertext; collaborative hypertext ; intelligent hypertext.
Assessment Assignments and practical work: 85% + Examination: 15%