Improving Developer Experiences With API Documentation
Improving Developer Experiences With API Documentation
Problems with API Docs are often related to usability
Researchers Michael Meng, Stephanie Steinhardt, and Andreas Schubert understand how developers use documentation when working with a new API. They hypothesize that problems with API documentation are often related to usability; precisely, the content and structure of the docs do not “match the work habits and expectations of software developers.”
Through interviews and observational studies of working habits, the researchers discovered common learning goals and strategies software developers use, the information resources they turn to, and the quality criteria they apply to API documentation.
In Application Programming Interface Documentation: What Do Software Developers Want (2018 Journal of Technical Writing and Communication), the researchers show that developers initially try to “form a global understanding regarding the overall purpose and main features of an API, but then adopt either a concepts-oriented or a code-oriented learning strategy that API documentation both needs to address.”