Documentation Survey for DEC's Compilers

Documentation Survey for DEC's Compilers

[STella]

The documentation professionals who write both hardcopy and online information
in support of Digital's compilers would like your opinion.  The purpose is to 
improve how we provide product information to programmers who use our compilers
.

We value your opinion and are eager to hear from you.  We will acknowledge all
respondents and send a compilation of the survey's results to all who respond.

Please return this survey to stella@glg.ucs.dec.com.


Thanks and Regards,

John E O'Neil, Documentation Supervisor	oneil@casdoc.enet.dec.com 
Mike Etzel, Fortran 
Barbara Bishop, Ada
Ron Johnson, Pascal
Neil Savage, C++
John Paolillo, C

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		QUESTIONNAIRE
                -------------

What programming languages (and what percentage of time are they used?)
does your organization use? 

__ Ada  __ C  __ Cobol  __ C++  __ Fortran  __ Pascal  __ Other(please specify)
 


How much mixed-language programming do you do, and what languages do you use?


Do you port programs from one system to another? If so, which systems?


In support of your programming activities, how much do your programmers
depend on finding reference and tutorial information from HARDCOPY books? 

____ 100% of time  ____ 75% of time  ____ 50% of time  ____  25% of time
____  Other


How much do your programmers depend on finding reference or tutorial 
information from ELECTRONIC or ONLINE information sources?  

____ 100% of time  ____ 75% of time  ____ 50% of time  ____ 25% of time
____ Other


What is the biggest improvement that can be made in providing reference
and tutorial information in either online or hardcopy format for compilers?


In 1993, what percent of programmers at your site do you expect will be
primarily using:

___ % Workstations  ___ % PCs connected to window servers  ___ % PCs standalone
___ % Character cell terminals


There are certain ways to find information, such as the table of contents,
the index, alphabetical listings, and so on.  However, all of these put
the burden of finding information on the end user.  What can you suggest
that makes finding information easier and faster?


What software vendor stands out as having superior quality, accuracy and
usability in the reference and tutorial information it provides with the
programming languages it sells?  

Would you care to comment on what is important, and what to avoid, in the
software industry? For example, is Windows NT from Microsoft an 
important platform for the future?  Is an immediate and heavy investment in 
object-oriented programming a must?


Can you envision multimedia information in support of compilers?  For example, 
simply click to see a full motion video lecture on the exact nature of a
particular error message.  Or click again to get an animated overview of a
compiler's new features.


Can you comment on any of the reference or tutorial information that
accompanies any of Digital's compilers?