A model for structuring user documentation of object-oriented frameworks using patterns and hypertext

Adequate documentation of an object-oriented framework is the
prerequisite to its success as a reusable component. The overall
design of a framework and its intended method of reuse are not obvious
from the source code and thus have to be addressed in the
documentation. Most importantly, the documentation of a framework has
to be structured in such a way that it guarantees the adequate support
of three major audiences: users selecting a framework, users learning
to develop typical applications based on the selected framework, and
users intending to modify its architecture. This paper presents a
model for structuring the documentation of an object- oriented
framework. The model integrates existing approaches such as pat-
terns, hypertext, program-understanding tools, and formal approaches
into a single structure that is geared towards supporting the three
audiences. The model will be illustrated using HotDraw, a Smalltalk
framework for drawing editors, as an example. We also give a
preliminary evaluation of the model.