Most good programmers write some really crappy documentation.
[snip]
but even if the programmer could manage to write something, it goes against just about everything most programmers hold valuable -- saving time.
It's, of course, actually a time saver in the long run to write good docs.
- Good docs make it easier for *others* (co-workers? folks on the qa team? do-gooders in the free software community?) to work on your code rather than you having to do it yourself,
- Good docs save you time when you need to re-familiarize yourself with your own code that you may not've touched in a while
Personally, the first thing I look for in a free software project is good docs. If the docs are good, you can always write tests and fix or update the code as-needed. If the code is ok, but the docs aren't good, the software is (in the long run) only useful to those who are willing to pore over it and try to figure out what it's supposed to be doing.
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