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Let's bring science into API docs — Lana Novikova, Writerside, JetBrains

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Who is there? — ● Technical writer with 10+ years of experience ● Specialize in developer and API docs ● Mentoring newcomers in the tech writing field and teaching IT students technical communication ● Developing product for documentarians by documentarians #Writerside ● Learning neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and andragogy in a spare time

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Previously on… — This is an extension of my talk at the Write The Docs Australia 2022

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JetBrains: The Drive to Develop — Pattern recognition —

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Pattern recognition — ● What we do: Structure API documentation according some industry-wide, expected patterns ● What is it based on: Pattern recognition ○ Humans match the information received with the information already stored in the brain ○ An early example of this is learning the alphabet in order Origin: neuroscience To dig deeper: ● Patterns of Knowledge in API Reference Documentation Walid Maalej and Martin P. Robillard

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Patterns of Knowledge in API Reference Documentation Walid Maalej and Martin P. Robillard ● Methodology: Approached API reference documentation of JDK 6 and .NET 4.0 using content analysis method ● Goal: to discover how different knowledge types are distributed through API documentation

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Actually there are much more methods content analysis theoretical sampling random sampling strategy Cohen’s Kappa metric correlation analysis length analysis φ-coefficient

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Patterns of Knowledge in API Reference Documentation Walid Maalej and Martin P. Robillard— ● Conclusions: ○ Detected 12 distinct knowledge types found in API documentation

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Patterns of Knowledge in API Reference Documentation Walid Maalej and Martin P. Robillard— ● Conclusions: ○ Detected 12 distinct knowledge types found in API documentation ○ Documentation for the JDK and .NET differ. JDK documentation contains more conceptual knowledge whereas .NET contains more information about the structure of the API and its usage patterns.

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Some takeaways — ● We can evaluate the content of our API documentation in relation to knowledge types

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Some takeaways — ● We can evaluate the content of our API documentation in relation to knowledge types

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Some takeaways — ● We can evaluate the content of our API documentation in relation to knowledge types ● Develop documentation templates that are adapted to the knowledge commonly associated with different types of API elements

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Some takeaways — ● We can evaluate the content of our API documentation in relation to knowledge types ● Develop documentation templates that are adapted to the knowledge commonly associated with different types of API elements If you want to get some ready-to-use template or want to participate in developing them - come to The Good Docs Project https://thegooddocsproject.dev/

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JetBrains: The Drive to Develop — Learning styles —

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Learning styles — ● What we do: Imagine API usage as a learning process, make it easier for people with various learning styles ● What is it based on: Learning style ○ There is no single "most effective" way of learning; it varies from person-to-person. ○ An individual's learning method will be different in different situations, and likely change over time Origin: cognitive science and theory of learning To dig deeper: ● How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert. Merseburg University of Applied Sciences

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Learning styles: David Kolb VAK Felder-Silverman Honey-Mumford 4MAT Gregorc Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument

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Learning styles: David Kolb’s model ● Kolb defined 4 learning styles: ○ Accommodator: strong in "hands-on" practical doing ○ Converger: strong in practical "hands-on" application of theories ○ Diverger: strong in imaginative ability and discussion ○ Assimilator: strong in inductive reasoning

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Learning styles: Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s model ● Activist: Learn by doing, and happy to jump in. ● Reflector: Learn through observation and reflecting on results ● Theorist: Like to understand the theory behind actions ● Pragmatist: Need to be able to see how they apply their learning to the real world

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert ● Methodology: Active observation, screencasts, and verbal protocols of participant activities during the test, researchers evaluated success rate, time spent on tasks, and usage of documentation and content categories. ● Goal: ○ Observe how developers would approach tasks with an API unfamiliar to them. ○ Analyze which information resources offered by the API documentation developers use to which extent. ○ Characterize the strategies developers adopt when starting to work with a new API.

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert ● Conclusions: ○ On average, participants used API documentation about 49% of the time (Min: 31%, Max: 68%). ○ The content category referred to most often is the API reference, followed by the Recipes page.

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49 %

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert ● Conclusions: ○ On average, participants used API documentation about 49% of the time (Min: 31%, Max: 68%). ○ The content category referred to most often is the API reference, followed by the Recipes page. ○ There is considerable variation between participants with respect to the time they allocate to individual content categories.

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert ● Conclusions: ○ On average, participants used API documentation about 49% of the time (Min: 31%, Max: 68%). ○ The content category referred to most often is the API reference, followed by the Recipes page. ○ there is considerable variation between participants with respect to the time they allocate to individual content categories. ○ Based on this data the researchers defined three information-seeking software developer personae and the approaches they use when looking for information to put a new API to work.

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert Three developer learning personae*: ● Systematic learners ● Opportunistic learners ● Pragmatic learners * Based on Clarke, S. (2007). What is an end user software engineer?

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Systematic learners seek to understand the API before they use it.

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Opportunistic learners seek to get started as quickly as possible without first understanding the API

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Pragmatic learners combine elements of both approaches

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Systematic -> Theorist Opportunistic -> Activist

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How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert Is there a correlation between success rate and learning style?

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Some takeaways — ● Respect the different strategies that developers adopt when approaching a new API

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Some takeaways — ● Respect the different strategies that developers adopt when approaching a new API ○ For opportunistic developers, make complete and comprehensive code examples and an ability to hide everything else and connect text-to-code

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Some takeaways — ● Respect the different strategies that developers adopt when approaching a new API ○ For opportunistic developers, make complete and comprehensive code examples and an ability to hide everything else and connect text-to-code ○ For systematic — provide important information redundantly and give relevant background knowledge

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Тут надо какой-то пример концептуальной информации и бэкграунда разлитого в апи референсе

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Some takeaways — ● Respect the different strategies that developers adopt when approaching a new API ○ For opportunistic developers, make complete and comprehensive code examples and an ability to hide everything else and connect text-to-code ○ For systematic — provide important information redundantly and give relevant background knowledge ○ For pragmatic (and all) —give a way to jump start using an API.

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Пример фаст аксеса - трай ауты и простой вход

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Пример фаст аксеса - трай ауты и простой вход

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Пример фаст аксеса - трай ауты и простой вход

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And you too!

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Resources mentioned to dive deeper — ● Patterns of Knowledge in API Reference Documentation Walid Maalej and Martin P. Robillard https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~martin/papers/tse20 13a.pdf ● How Developers Use API Documentation: An Observation Study by Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert https://sigdoc.acm.org/wp-content/uploads/20 19/01/CDQ18002_Meng_Steinhardt_Schubert. pdf

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jetbrains.com Let’s stay in touch — @_Unsolved_ Come to the writerside We support API docs @svetlnovikova @lananovikova10 @svetlana-novikova