Tweaking the documentation to better answer https://github.com/simdjson/simdjson/issues/1218

doc/basics.md

@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ During the`load` or `parse` calls, neither the input file nor the input string a
 
 For best performance, a `parser` instance should be reused over several files: otherwise you will needlessly reallocate memory, an expensive process. It is also possible to avoid entirely memory allocations during parsing when using simdjson. [See our performance notes for details](performance.md).
 
+If you need a lower-level interface, you may call the function `parser.parse(const char * p, size_t l)` on a pointer `p` while specifying the
+length of your input `l` in bytes. To see how to get the very best performance from a low-level approach, you way want to read our [performance notes](https://github.com/simdjson/simdjson/blob/master/doc/performance.md#padding-and-temporary-copies) on this topic (see the Padding and Temporary Copies section).
+
 
 Using the Parsed JSON
 ---------------------

doc/basics_doxygen.md

@@ -99,6 +99,9 @@ During the`load` or `parse` calls, neither the input file nor the input string a
 For best performance, a `parser` instance should be reused over several files: otherwise you will needlessly reallocate memory, an expensive process. It is also possible to avoid entirely memory allocations during parsing when using simdjson. 
 
 
+If you need a lower-level interface, you may call the function `parser.parse(const char * p, size_t l)` on a pointer `p` while specifying the
+length of your input `l` in bytes. To see how to get the very best performance from a low-level approach, you way want to read our [performance notes](https://github.com/simdjson/simdjson/blob/master/doc/performance.md#padding-and-temporary-copies) on this topic (see the Padding and Temporary Copies section).
+
 Using the Parsed JSON
 ---------------------
 

doc/performance.md

@@ -182,9 +182,9 @@ Padding and Temporary Copies
 The simdjson function `parser.parse` reads data from a padded  buffer, containing SIMDJSON_PADDING extra bytes added at the end.
 If you are passing a `padded_string` to `parser.parse` or loading the JSON directly from
 disk (`parser.load`), padding is automatically  handled.
-When calling `parser.parse` on a pointer (e.g., `parser.parse(mystring, mylength)`) a temporary copy  is made by default with adequate padding and you, again, do not need to be concerned with padding.
+When calling `parser.parse` on a pointer (e.g., `parser.parse(my_char_pointer, my_length_in_bytes)`) a temporary copy  is made by default with adequate padding and you, again, do not need to be concerned with padding.
 
-Some users may not be able use our `padded_string` class or to load the data directly from disk (`parser.load`). They may need to pass data pointers to the library.  If these users wish to avoid temporary copies and corresponding temporary memory allocations, they may want to call `parser.parse` with the `realloc_if_needed` parameter set to false (e.g., `parser.parse(mystring, mylength, false)`). In such cases, they need to ensure that there are at least SIMDJSON_PADDING extra bytes at the end that can be safely accessed and read. They do not need to initialize the padded bytes to any value in particular. The following example is safe:
+Some users may not be able use our `padded_string` class or to load the data directly from disk (`parser.load`). They may need to pass data pointers to the library.  If these users wish to avoid temporary copies and corresponding temporary memory allocations, they may want to call `parser.parse` with the `realloc_if_needed` parameter set to false (e.g., `parser.parse(my_char_pointer, my_length_in_bytes, false)`). In such cases, they need to ensure that there are at least SIMDJSON_PADDING extra bytes at the end that can be safely accessed and read. They do not need to initialize the padded bytes to any value in particular. The following example is safe:
 
 
 ```C++
@@ -197,4 +197,4 @@ simdjson::dom::parser parser;
 simdjson::dom::element element = parser.parse(padded_json_copy.get(), json_len, false);
 ````
 
-Setting the `realloc_if_needed` parameter false in this manner may lead to better performance, but it requires that the user takes more responsibilities: the simdjson library cannot verify that the input buffer was padded.
+Setting the `realloc_if_needed` parameter `false` in this manner may lead to better performance since copies are avoided, but it requires that the user takes more responsibilities: the simdjson library cannot verify that the input buffer was padded with SIMDJSON_PADDING extra bytes.