#21504
Documenting the Flow of Rule-Based Programming in Expert Systems 
With the spread of new technology, technical communicators face interesting new challenges for solving documentation problems. One area of software development that technical communicators are increasingly becoming involved in is that of rule-based expert systems. Because of their complexity, both the systems and their documentation can be difficult to maintain. Technical communicators can solve some of these maintenance problems by flow-charting only the chaining structure of the rule-base design.
Glover, Kyle S. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Programming>Workflow
#28122
Don't Get Too Excited About Windows Source Code
Microsoft's offer to open the code to key protocols is probably not as revolutionary as it sounds.
McAllister, Neil. InfoWorld (2006). Articles>Technology>Programming>Microsoft Windows
#27227
There are two ways to use Automation (or OLE Automation) to programmatically control another application.
Rado, Dave. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#24708
There is a direct line between the abstraction embodied in our code and the reality of the people who will come into contact with that code. Methodologies and managers are beside the point—a distraction from the real issue.
Read, Daniel. developer.star (2001). Articles>Usability>Programming
#20319
Enhancing HTML Documents With ActiveX
ActiveX is definitely a technology buzzword--but what is it, really? How does it work? Is it something that would benefit me as a writer? How can I utilize it? Technical writers are increasingly being called upon to combine new publishing technologies with writing skills. ActiveX technology provides new ways for writers to enhance their HTML documents with little or no actual programming involved. This workshop presents the various technologies associated with ActiveX, along with functional demonstrations. The goal of the workshop is to provide an overview of ActiveX that can serve as a starting point to further research and implement the technology.
Vincent, Bill. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Web Design>Programming>ActiveX
#32006
Fifteen Things You Can Do with Yahoo! UI
Slicken up your web apps with these tips and tricks using the Yahoo! User Interface library.
Diaz, Dustin. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Ajax
#25002
Five Lessons You Should Learn from Extreme Programming
Extreme Programming (XP) is yet another popular idea gaining press. It adapts the best ideas from the past decades of software development. Whether or not you adopt XP, it's worth considering what XP teaches.
O'Reilly and Associates (2004). Articles>Information Design>Programming
#28908
These days, 'framework' is quite a buzzword in web development. With JavaScript frameworks like the Yahoo User Interface library, jQuery, and Prototype getting a lot of attention and web application frameworks like Rails and Django getting even more, it seems like everyone is using some kind of framework to build their sites. But what exactly is a framework? And are they only useful to programmers, or can we web designers benefit from the concept, as well?
Croft, Jeff. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Programming>Collaboration
#21503
A Gentle Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
Object-oriented (OO) programming helps writers and programmers use real-world paradigms. By understanding some basic terminology of OO (classes, instances, and messages), the writer can feel more at ease with OO concepts. A glossary and suggestions for further reading are included.
Chacko, Rajah Y. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Project Management>Programming
#27229
Getting Help With Calling Word's Built-In Dialogs Using VBA
There are two Help topics in Word VBA Help that are required reading to get you started with built-in dialogs: 'Displaying built-in Word dialog boxes' and 'Built-in dialog box argument lists'. Unfortunately, in the latter article, Microsoft listed the arguments you can use but forgot to mention what the arguments mean or what values they can take! Fortunately, the dialog box arguments are almost identical to the arguments of the commands of WordBasic, so if you know one, you can work out the other. Therefore, the WordBasic Help file is at present by far the best resource for programmers wanting to use the dialogs. It is an absolute must-have.
Rado, Dave. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#20115
Getting Started in the Expert System Development Game
To dispel some of the myths of Expert Systems and explain their rise as a new documentation tool in the computer industry today, we offer this historical and current market overview.
Lohmann, Joan F., Lory Hawkes, Margot B. Casey and Elinor L. Knodel. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Knowledge Management>Programming
#27218
Getting to Grips With VBA Basics in 15 Minutes 
I can't turn you into a VBA expert but I can suggest a way to explore VBA that you may find helpful. Below, I've listed 22 steps that can be completed in approximately 15 minutes, assuming someone is kind enough to read them to you as you sit at your keyboard. If you have to read them by yourself and turn your attention alternately to the keyboard and back to the steps, then you may need a half hour or longer to complete the steps. Either way, the steps should give you a feel for what it's like to program in Word.
Coan, Bill. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#32003
To most, the virtues of Web 2.0 are rather ephemeral; that’s always been one of its main criticisms. However, I like to think that one of the movement’s key aspects is a sense of community, an ability to create sites and applications that bring people together.
Adams, Cameron. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Programming>Ajax
#27216
How To Add Pop-Up Lists to any Word Document, So You Can Click Your Way Through Changes in Seconds
Do you re-use some of your documents over and over again, making slight changes just before you print, fax, or email it each time? Do you, for example, send the same basic letter to each new customer, but edit the letter each time so that it refers to the specific product purchased by that customer? Starting with Word 97, there's an easy way to add a pop-up list of choices to any Word document. This new feature lets you point at a word or phrase and simply right-click the mouse to switch to some other word or phrase.
Coan, Bill. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#20336
How to Approach a Systems and Programming Documentation Project
The biggest concern in software development environments is the retention of programmers. What they are really concerned about is the knowledge drain. These organizations know they need to capture this knowledge, but they do not want to do it themselves. They are turning to the writers who have always written the user manuals. These writers, most having no systems or programming background, must develop internal documentation for use in a programming maintenance environment. They do not know where to begin. This paper outlines a methodology for developing systems and programming documentation for programmers in a maintenance environment.
Glick-Smith, Judith L. 'Judy'. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Programming
#27230
How to Customise the Control Toolbox in the VB Editor
Supposing you frequently need to add Multiline Text Boxes to your UserForms, with the EnterKeyBehavior property set to True. Or let's say you want to drag a 'Next' button straight onto your userform and not have to change the text in it to say 'Next', and not have to change the dimensions of the button.
Rado, Dave. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#27223
Most of us write routines that do similar operations more than once. It makes your code much less cumbersome and much easier to follow if you hive off all such repetitive chunks of code into separate subroutines or functions. The difference between a sub and a function is that a function can return a value. Within the function itself, you can treat the function name like a variable, and give it a value and then you can call the function and get that value.
Rado, Dave. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#13531
If We Build It, Will They Come? A Usability Test of Two Browser-based Embedded Help Systems 
The big problem with database-searching applications is that the user receives little feedback. Consider, for example, novice users starting to use Microsoft Word. The users want to right-justify a paragraph of text. Their efforts, either successful or unsuccessful, will be immediately apparent on the screen: The paragraph is either correctly justified or it isn't. However, a good-quality or a poor-quality search query used over a large database may retrieve 5,000 records, whether good or poor. How is the chemist to know whether the search query was effective and efficient? That is, how does the chemist know that the search query retrieved all and only the relevant records?
Grayling, Trevor. Technical Communication Online (2002). Articles>Usability>Programming
#32007
The Importance of Maintainable JavaScript
JavaScript is hip again; there’s no doubt about it. But if you’re starting to get down and dirty with it, there’s no excuse not to keep it clean.
Heilmann, Christian. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Programming>JavaScript
#18902
Introduction of Programming Technology for Improving Manual Production
How do we introduce programming technology successfully and illustrate various applications using SGML, Visual Basic, RTF, HTML and other tools which drastically change the manual production process? The following is an explanation of how we at Seishosha Co., Ltd. have dealt with this matter.
Kobayashi, Norio. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>Documentation>Programming
#26887
An Introduction to the Eclipse Web Tools Platform
The Eclipse Web Tools Platform (WTP) extends the Eclipse IDE to enable easy development of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-based applications. Learn how to install WTP, configure it for use with an application server, and use the tools it provides to create a J2EE application.
Delap, Scott. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Programming
#23176
This document aims to capture some of the best practices for developing Java Enterprise Application. The information in this document should ideally be used during Design Cycle. Some of the areas covered are a) Resource Handling b) NLS c) Code Documentation d) Error Handling e) General/ Others. The information presented must be used along with Java Standard Practices and Organization level standard practices.
Sundaram, Elango. Yahoo (2004). Resources>Software>Programming>eBooks
#22331
Java may be used to develop stand-alone applications, servlets (an application that runs on the server), or applets (an application that runs inside a Java-capable browser). Applets appear in web-pages in the same way as an image, but because they are essentially embedded applications, are dynamic and interactive.
#30469
As developers, we have more and more JavaScript libraries to choose from and, of course, the option not to use any at all. Over time, we each tend to favor one method of coding over another. For those who'd like to learn more about jQuery, one of the more popular libraries, here's a crash course written with code-savvy web designers in mind.
Smith, Nathan. Digital Web Magazine (2007). Design>Web Design>Programming>JavaScript
#20021
Leaving Copyediting for Computing
A copyeditor for a computer publication wants to change careers. She's thinking of taking a few computer language courses with an eye toward moving into UNIX system administration -- a wide-open field. As someone who has changed careers once or twice, I'll offer a coaching session.
Zuchero, John. Editorial Eye, The (2003). Careers>Editing>Programming
