1The Nature of Technical Writing
1.1Introduction
What is technical writing? I’m afraid that there is no universally accepted definition. Many authors discuss the difficulties in defining “technical writing” and then offer their own definition. For our purposes, it is easier to define technical writing by differentiating it from all other kinds of writing. There are two main differences between technical and nontechnical writing: precision and intent.
Precision is crucial in technical writing. When you express an idea in technical writing, it may be realized in some device or process. If the idea is wrong, the device or process will also be wrong. To quote my friend, physicist and software engineer par excellence, Dr. George Hacken, “syntax ...
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