Technical writing: Weaving the Silk purse

It's no secret that customers frequently complain about programming manuals. In annual meetings, around the office coffee machine, in comp centers neath the abend's red glare — one can hear the people who depend on software documentation raising agonized cries. The problems that can be found in manuals are many, and familiar: minor irritants like Ted Mack spelling, blunders like lost table headings or illegible printing, yellow-brown fogs of vagueness, absent examples, missing information, even the deadly sin of downright factual mistakes — all these flaws are not uncommon.