views:

59

answers:

3

I'd like to write a document for example)

  • deploy prosedure
  • software structure
  • DB structure

but I'am not a native speaker in English. so I'd like to brush up my english for writing documents Could you recommend a best book for writing document for software engineers?

+1  A: 

The best technical writing book on software documentation:

Writing Software Documentation (2nd ed.)

The best general book:

Technical Communication (11th ed.)

Kdeveloper
A: 

It wouldn't hurt to read this little book which helps to learn conciseness:

alt text

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style

Gary Willoughby
If you're going to read Strunk and White, you may want to treat it with some skepticism. This article provides an easy tour of what's wrong with The Elements of Style: http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497/
ddbeck
+1  A: 

I want to learn in a systematic or frequently used expressions in Technical Documents from a book

There's a trick to learning idiomatic technical English.

It works like this.

  1. Read idiomatic technical English.

  2. Copy what you read.

As a native speaker of English, let me emphasize something that is often overlooked. English grammar is so flexible that American schools don't teach American English grammar. There aren't many American English grammar books to provide a systematic understanding of American English because -- frankly -- there's no system to American English. English is borrowed from other languages. American English involves more borrowing by more people with more varied ethnic backgrounds. That means lots of rules and lots of exceptions to rules. Too many exceptions means that -- in effect -- there are no rules.

It's easier to let the language evolve than it is to try to invent (and enforce) rules.

The best way to learn American English is by reading American English.

If you want to learn to write a "deploy procedure", do this.

  1. Find a deploy procedure for a software product.

  2. Copy it, making changes.

If you want to write a description of a "software structure" or "DB structure", do this.

  1. Find a description for software that you like and understand.

  2. Copy it, making changes.

That is almost exactly the way we teach English in America. If it works for dumb old Americans, it should work for anyone.

S.Lott