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I am not an expert in writing documentation for application program interfaces (API). I do play one on TV though.
No not really, I read enough of them so I feel like I'm an expert.
I have written a couple of API SDK documentation packages and by no means were perfect.
However I have been struggling with a set of API docs for a housing management integration for conferences, and the documentation really confused me.
So I'm sharing my thoughts as I am having them on good practices for API documents. Try to put yourself in the users head, and understand it from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about your system.
Help walk them through setting up and configuring their environment for both testing and development. Help them understand the separation. If it helps...don't even talk about production until later on. Focus on the development environment. That is where we all need to start.
Just like writing any other paper or plan you should do a little due diligence on other API documents. How do others present this? Look at Google if you need help. They do it right.
Just some thoughts on writing application program interface (API) docs. I have a link to a guide I once found on this, I will post later.
Maybe I will follow my own advice next time I'm writing them. And that is a big reason I have this blog, for my own reference.
