RE: [PEAR] Re: Documentation

Keith, being at the user level rather than the contributor level for Pear, and having used Pear for several months I think that there is a definite need for a consistent howto/documentation method for pear modules. Being a developer for other non-pear code modules, I sometimes find myself slipping into a misconception that other developers that are using my code should find my implementation trivial to encorporate into their own using the API documentation that can be automatically generated or by useage examples alone. Being a user for Pear I can see how implementing a new module can be daunting and at the very least, time-consuming. Knowing that a well-developed set of plain-language documentation exists for every Pear module in the repository would increase its user base by at least a factor of 10 in my opinion. I wouldn't say that this burden lies on the developers shoulders, there are thousands of active developers who could provide this level of documentation. What I would say is necessary though is a mandatory format for the documentation (Pear howto XSD, or something to that effect), and a mandatory minimal set of features that are documented that can then be expanded. I think that a large range of developers who can benefit greatly from Pear are overlooked by not having centralized, consistent detailed documents. -- Jeff