A Systematic Approach to Creating and Maintaining Software
Documentation

Allison L. Powell, James C. French, John C. Knight
(alp4g | french | knight)@virginia.edu
Department of Computer Science, Thornton Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903


Abstract. Current software documentation is difficult to
write and seldom meets the varying needs of its users. We
propose that by considering different users and applying
information retrieval techniques to the information included
in software documentation, we can provide effective access
to that information. We submit a set of features for inclusion 
in documentation database systems and describe a prototype 
designed to determine the usefulness of these
features.



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