Update the package docs for the new API layout (#1346)

metric/doc.go

@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+/*
+Package metric provides an implementation of the metrics part of the
+OpenTelemetry API.
+
+This package is currently in a pre-GA phase. Backwards incompatible changes
+may be introduced in subsequent minor version releases as we work to track the
+evolving OpenTelemetry specification and user feedback.
+
+Measurements can be made about an operation being performed or the state of a
+system in general. These measurements can be crucial to the reliable operation
+of code and provide valuable insights about the inner workings of a system.
+
+Measurements are made using instruments provided by this package. The type of
+instrument used will depend on the type of measurement being made and of what
+part of a system is being measured.
+
+Instruments are categorized as Synchronous or Asynchronous and independently
+as Adding or Grouping. Synchronous instruments are called by the user with a
+Context. Asynchronous instruments are called by the SDK during collection.
+Additive instruments are semantically intended for capturing a sum. Grouping
+instruments are intended for capturing a distribution.
+
+Additive instruments may be monotonic, in which case they are non-decreasing
+and naturally define a rate.
+
+The synchronous instrument names are:
+
+  Counter:           additive, monotonic
+  UpDownCounter:     additive
+  ValueRecorder:     grouping
+
+and the asynchronous instruments are:
+
+  SumObserver:       additive, monotonic
+  UpDownSumObserver: additive
+  ValueObserver:     grouping
+
+All instruments are provided with support for either float64 or int64 input
+values.
+
+An instrument is created using a Meter. Additionally, a Meter is used to
+record batches of synchronous measurements or asynchronous observations. A
+Meter is obtained using a MeterProvider. A Meter, like a Tracer, is unique to
+the instrumentation it instruments and must be named and versioned when
+created with a MeterProvider with the name and version of the instrumentation
+library.
+
+Instrumentation should be designed to accept a MeterProvider from which it can
+create its own unique Meter. Alternatively, the registered global
+MeterProvider from the go.opentelemetry.io/otel package can be used as a
+default.
+*/
+package metric // import "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/metric"