> or something as
> fundamental as the correct documentation for how to setup a database URL
> (which is correct in the CVS, and wrong in the current download).

If this is the case it because the docs have been fixed.

And.. you should only consider the relevance of the stable "release"
versions' documentation, the "latest" and "nightly" builds are strictly
snapshots of work-in-progress, as such they should not be expected to
function, nor should documentation be expected to be correct in any aspect.

Furthermore James has never released a Beta quality version yet, all the
releases so far have, for various reasons, been considered to be Alpha
quality code.

I subscribe to Andy's opinion that James is hard for a new user to get
started with, because I have had to nursemaid many such users through their
first experience with James.

In addition to documentation making life easier for users remember also that
a +1 vote for a release binds the voter to support that release by
participating on the developers and users lists. This is a great incentive
to commiters to produce clear and accurate user documentation, and clear and
accurate code documentation.

IMHO while the XP case for not documenting code is based in part upon the
assumption that the code should be easy to follow and documentation  ca be
used to avoid writing clear code, it does not follow that concise targeted
code documentation obfuscates the code.

I rather believe that good javadoc documentation can encourage encapsulation
and re-use by removing the necessity for programmers to concern themselves
with the detail of code not directly relevant to the issues they are
addressing, revealing method signatures and documenting their intended use
cannot, surely, be counter productive, particularly in an OSS project.

Take a look at the Tomcat javadocs, they reveal the architecture of Tomcat
in just enough detail for an outsider to extend and adapt the product,
without explaining away bad practices, or forcing you to read the code
itself.

I strongly believe that code documentation should be a halfway house between
user documentation and the code itself, providing a convenient and easily
navigable journey through the architecture, un-encumbered by the
implementation details.

d.


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