
Learning technical writing using the engineering method (2016) [pdf] - Tomte
https://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/pubs/learn.pdf
======
supernova87a
I will say that even if you don't read the bulk of this link, the PDF document
itself is a very visually pleasing layout, and the author clearly knows how to
design, vary, and break up text to make it more interesting. It's worth a look
just to see it briefly.

I will just add that I can recognize good technical writing in 3 stages of
sophistication:

Stage 1) Someone who has barely mastered the topic and is at the most basic
level just telling you the steps to reproduce the result or operate the items
or workflow. Once you learn from the material presented (unless extremely
complex or required to keep as reference), you rarely go back and study and
appreciate this kind of writing repeatedly.

Stage 2) Someone who has done the analysis and exercise enough that the
writing evolves into not just instructions or rote description, but narration
through the reasons _why_ they did it this way, the pitfalls to watch out for,
what _not_ to do. Starts you thinking about what to do next.

Stage 3) Someone whose telling of the technical detail is so fluid and
practiced that the basics are unquestioned -- the writing now includes well-
informed opinions and jokes about past attempts at the outcome, why they
failed and their historical context in technical terms. Gives advice on the
difficulties that will be encountered and the limits of the method. The
writing is so informative that you may return to read it again and again
throughout your career.

One of my favorite texts that reaches Stage 3 is _Numerical Recipes in C_
(which unfortunately I don't have much occasion to refer to nowadays), and the
way that programming philosophy, advice, and technical instruction combines in
that work is very impressive. Also, many of Griffiths' physics texts, who
manages to write with both technical and conversational/narrative mastery.

If only more writers could be like this.

~~~
techbio
Well said, and, “Stage 3“ in which fluency brings humor to a hard topic,
immediately suggests to mind Steven S. Skiena’s The Algorithm Design Manual
[http://www.algorist.com/](http://www.algorist.com/)

------
burakemir
This looks quite interesting, thanks for sharing.

I found the other recent thread on technical writing useful, too: Four kinds
of documentation
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21289832](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21289832)

------
TurkishPoptart
How does one get technical writing work? I enjoy writing and wish to do more
of it, preferably for money.

------
dctoedt
Looks a bit like a LaTex output?

~~~
MengerSponge
Yeah, this is a nice LaTeX document. The learning curve is pretty steep at
first, but Overleaf.com has made that easier, and it's well worth learning if
you're a writer of any kind.

