[asterisk-doc] I am new to asterisk..Please help me..

[Leif Madsen]

On 7/11/06, asterisk <asterisk at stn.pl> wrote:
> OK. There is very hot discussion here. It means (I hope) subject is very hot.
> I don't agree with Jim:

And I don't agree with you :) My reasoning below...

> >  This is  primarily because most people only talk about what needs to
> >  be done; very few actually do anything.

Agreed.

> Peter Beckman wrote:
> > > > What I am seeing is that you guys are (mostly) still alive! :) This is
> > > > about the quietest list in the civilized world.
> > >
> > >   Wow, this is the first thread on this list in a long time.
> > >
>
> we are quiet because we are very busy and hard working (around VoIP, Asterisk,
> Internet, e.t.c), and maybe talking not enough.
> But I think this discussion means we think documentation is VERY important
> part of Asterisk.
> There is some old rules about this:
>
> 1. Make documentation in parallel with coding.
> 2. Make docs even before coding.
>
> This is because you have to know where are you going and documentation is your
> roadmap.

Unfortunately Asterisk is still relatively young (it's just a wee
baby!!!) -- it's delving into an industry that had yet been touched by
open source, and is a pretty complex world unto itself (we're talking
over 100 years of innovation here people!).

Making documentation in parallel with coding is a great and grand idea
-- some day it may even happen. However -- those who program are not
documenteurs -- they are programmers. Digium has, at last count,
approximately 4-5 full time programmers -- the rest are all
volunteers! And it seems highly unlikely that Digium is going to ask
those _volunteer_ programmers to be required to write documentation in
addition to the programming efforts they are generously contributing
to all of us. Yes -- if someone writes a new function or application,
they have to write some documentation to show how it works, but they
certainly are not required to write a 30 page chapter on how it works.

Writing documentation before coding is an even grander idea -- but my
statements above still stand. And also, Asterisk is an open source
project and not a commercial entity (yes, there is commercialism
behind it, but Digium is not as big as Cisco), so it plays by
different rules, has different ambitions, and different goals.

The roadmap of Asterisk is constantly changing. That's because it is
driven by those volunteers who tirelessly provide knowledge and skills
into a peice of software that we all use, and the areas the get the
most attention are going to be those that they themselves require the
most for their customers.

So while your thoughts are logical and sound, they simply don't meet
the objectives of reality.

Leif Madsen.