"At the very least, this demonstrates both respect and sympathy for other engineers who need to use an API. "
Sympathy? As when an API is sort of hacky or kludgey or ad hoc?
"Often, it also correlates to a well engineered product underneath."
When I did Windows development I marveled at the amount and quality of detailed docs available for the platform. In some cases the underlying each was well-engineered, But there's no real correlation. The docs existed because a company really wanted people to develop for their platform.
Docs (or lack of) say more about business than engineering.
Sympathy? As when an API is sort of hacky or kludgey or ad hoc?
"Often, it also correlates to a well engineered product underneath."
When I did Windows development I marveled at the amount and quality of detailed docs available for the platform. In some cases the underlying each was well-engineered, But there's no real correlation. The docs existed because a company really wanted people to develop for their platform.
Docs (or lack of) say more about business than engineering.