Jason Williams wrote:
Linking is the right answer here, in my opinion. You shouldn't have to wade through a thorough grounding in computer science before reading about how LL parsers work. Instead, [[Computer science]] and [[Compilers]] should be prominently linked, along with each technical term used.
I think -
- Everybody should be able to understand broadly what an article is describing (LL Parsers are a technique used in computer science to interpret text, or something. You get the idea, I'm sure)
Yes, absolutely. Articles should begin with a clear overview. "LL Parsers are a technique used in computer science to interpret text" is a great begininng. The article can get very technically dense straight away after that -- the layperson already has a quick idea of *what* this thing is, and what they need to learn about before they can tackle the detail.
On the matter of cultural bias, I have mentioned this somewhere in our policy pages. Don't for instance assume the reader has any idea what "Thanksgiving" is -- things like that are important to bear in mind.
I always think: "write for an intelligent Martian, who is capable of following links" ;-)