Documentation of a sequential program library can take the form of a user's manual that specifies what each procedure (or class) does. By contrast, documentation for a parallel archetype library is more complex and has a significant educational component. For instance, explaining the performance consequences of different data distributions is primarily a pedagogical activity. We should think of documentation of parallel archetype libraries in a much broader sense than we think of documentation of sequential program libraries. Indeed, documentation of an archetype library should be viewed as a collection of course material.
Courses are interactive: instructors and students questioning and responding to each other. If we view documentation of archetype libraries as course material, then this documentation must be interactive as well. The obvious solution is to use hypermedia authoring tools to develop archetype documentation. Animation and voice are particularly helpful in explaining performance issues using simulations.
To enable wide use of archetype libraries, its documentation must be made available on the Internet. A first step towards hypermedia course materials on the net is the development of HTML documents available through World Wide Web. In the mean time, we can evaluate hypermedia documentation of archetype libraries using tools on Macintosh, NEXTSTEP, Windows and other platforms.
The utility of an archetype library depends on the quality of its documentation. Therefore, we should use the best technologies available to provide documentation in the most appropriate media, and we should develop tools to support browsing and scavenging.