Questions tagged [documentation]
Software documentation is written text that accompanies computer software. It explains how the software operates, how to install it, how to use it, and other resources for help.
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Structuring and documenting constants and configurations in Python
I am working on a small to medium-sized project with ~3-4k LOC. As I am working on it, it is expected to grow to 10k+ LOC. There are a lot of constants & configuration options written in a ...
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Do large companies like Facebook, Google, Netflix, etc., have internal documentation for their frontend and backend codebases? [closed]
I work at a fairly large startup/company of about 1000 people, a fraction of which are software engineers. We have some docs of various kinds, but the codebase isn't documented. Let me elaborate.
Here ...
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Writing public libraries: Should I let the consumer of the library enforce thread safety?
I'm writing a .NET library which exposes certain public APIs. Currently, I have not enforced thread safety in my library for following reasons apparent to me:
locks (Monitor.Enter and Monitor.Exit) ...
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2
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Is there some standard or virtually standard way to document code in a language agnostic and IDE agnostic fashion? [closed]
In java we generally do it the java-docs way and in js the popular method these days is vscode documentation using @param, @returns, @example etc but I would prefer if there were some language ...
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Creating necessary documentation for maintenance staff when only Code repository contents can be relied on [closed]
Conditions:
stable legacy prod system
no Software Devs of the system are available anymore
app is maintained by Engineers, who do not have the same software dev experience like the original Devs and ...
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2
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What is an appropriate length for function names? [closed]
I'm writing a C++ class, CBookSpellDef which has the following methods:
int GetIndexOf(const char *psz);
char* GetNameAtIndex(int index) { return m_spellTypes[index].szName; }
char* ...
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Automated API Versioning
I did research about this and I'm facing with two challenges:
how to handle version deprecation in my CI/CD pipeline, when we have more than one major versions officially functional and others ...
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2
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How to document a concurrent communication protocol for less theoretical people
We are developing a multi-user web-based application, where the users can join a "room" and a complicated handshake has to be set up between them, to be able to use a library on each ...
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1
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What is standard/considered best practice for the media used for different documentation? [closed]
I have just started my first position as a software engineer after finishing my degree, and, as warned, software is much different in industry than in academia. The startup that hired me does not have ...
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What are better ways of indicating "insert actual value in place of the placeholder value" in documentation?
We develop an online booking system and it may be embedded in customer websites in an iframe. It is very simple to use, you just include a JavaScript file on the page and call the initialisation ...
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Why and how to write clear code comments and when will documentations be needed beyond code commenting?
I am learning programming on my own following standard programming language textbooks. I come from a math background. I learned C on my own, but never really got to the more advanced portions.
I ...
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Should I include an actor to represent the database in a use case diagram? [duplicate]
I'm working on the documentation of software management system. That system can be linked with an e-commerce website to get financial data directly. For example when a transaction will be made it will ...
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1
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Where to keep assets for documentation generation as to not clutter the main repository
I have a large C++ project I'm hoping to release publicly soon (it is currently an internal development at work).
We have a large auto documentation setup which uses doxygen and sphinx, however our ...
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Java: Autogenerating documentation for Strategy Pattern with lambdas
Situation
Object MyObject needs to be sent to one of our downstream systems depending on the enum value of its field myField.
public class MyObject {
private MyEnum myField;
public MyEnum ...
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Is there a term that describes the property of being synchronous vs asynchronous?
Is there a term that describes the property of being synchronous vs asynchronous?
The term that most naturally comes to mind is "synchronicity", however I only see this term being use in ...
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Term for type information from C Source Code
I'm writing a code that extracts information about functions (prototype) and types (enum, struct, typedef) from a C source file.
This is to augment the type information about a particular function or ...
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Is documenting a big project with UML Diagrams needed, good to have or even not possible?
I developed a big(ger) project, which is in use already and grows, gets altered, fixed, etc. every week.
Until now I am the only developer. Since the team has to grow, also we will be more developers ...
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5
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Should docs of extended methods include documentation of the base method?
Let's say some method of a parent class is reimplemented in a child class.
This child method is intended to do the same that the parent method, with a minor change.
In this case, in the documentation ...
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2
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How to document pass-through parameters
I'm currently working with a pre-existing class (not written by me) that has functions which call other functions, passing through the parameters to the helper functions. Sometimes there are layers to ...
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Documenting my abstract class/interface - what is important?
I am still an beginner/intermediate programmer at best so apologies if I misuse terminology.
I work with SCADA software for my job, specifically Ignition by Inductive Automation. It's made for rapid ...
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2
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Situation where software engineers effectively take role of product (unwanted, but for practical reasons)
My team owns several services. One is our primary focus: an accounts service. We have a plentiful stream of feature work and tech debt to address there, and everyone (engineers, product, design, ...
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What's a good workflow for including mechanical sketches in code comments?
My team writes a lot of Python code in PyCharm to do quick simulations and calculations for our mechanical engineering work. Often, we'd like to include a little image (a hand drawn sketch, CAD ...
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What does "legacy signature" mean?
I see the term legacy signature a lot in the documentation of programming languages. For example in the php documentation :
Passing the separator after the array (i.e. using the legacy signature) ...
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1
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Technical Debt in frontend development [closed]
I have recently joined in a new company as a frontend developer and I got access to their current repository which is made in ReactJS. I can see that current team is not very experienced in reactJS ...
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2
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2
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How to document external libraries that have been adopted into an existing codebase?
I have been using an external library for a while now. Unfortunately, it stopped receiving updates, and has since been adopted into my codebase.
The issue is the library was poorly documented in the ...
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0
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How sould I document dimensions of a pointed-to buffer?
This is a "doxygen style/etiquette" question.
I have a function which takes, say, an int *buffer. Now, buffer is actually a multi-dimensional array, with different dimensions in each axis, ...
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2
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How to document a NoSQL document-based data model?
How do you document the logical data model of a document-oriented database like MongoDB?
For relational databases, Entity-Relationship diagrams or UML class diagrams are used.
What is the practice for ...
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2
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How to automatically manage documentation
Our project consists of a cluster of microservices (let's say 20, mainly JS & PHP) that are communicating among themselves and exchanging data (via MQ) among themselves. Also, clusters have API ...
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1
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Is using the doxygen @file command counter-productive?
I'm having a dilemma regarding whether or not to use Doxygen's \@file (a.k.a. \file) command:
/**
* @file my_filename.c
*
* etc. etc.
On the one hand, it's somewhat useful for you to use @file, ...
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How to document business processes/rules inside Python code and export them?
I'm in a project that computes a lot of metrics with Python code. We need to document how each metric is computed, inside the code, for readability, and outside, in some Wiki, for non-technical people....
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1
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UML activity diagram modeling for multiple input/output Program
I have to create a overview documentation for a simple PLC (programmable logic controller aka industrial automation controller) program (happens to be written in Step 7 but not really important).
The ...
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1
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Do I need to write Scenarios if I use Event Storming? [closed]
Event Storming is a great method to understand the business processes.
Scenario (Use Case Specification) also describes the business process.
They both do one thing.
But when documenting, the Event ...
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How to document alternative code I considered but didn't go with due to performance?
I write code in R, and often find myself attempting to optimize the code for better performance. In a given script that tackles a specific problem, I test different code alternatives and compare them ...
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1
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Documenting classes with doxygen (I want a birds eye view of the code but also want documentation)
When I code in plain C there is quite a beautiful interaction between headers and c files in terms of documenting the code.
I tend to add the documentation on the cc files (and yes I am aware that ...
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What is the name of the documents that describes changes and implementation?
In our development process, we have documents for each task/feature that describe
API changes
API logic
Data flow (if needed)
Database changes
How client should interact with new/modified APIs
Other ...
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1
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202
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Given-when-then template for docstrings
Tests can be very nicely written down using the given-when-then style. Are there similar styles / templates for describing methods and classes in docstrings?
To clarify: There are many sites which ...
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4
votes
2
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Documenting dynamic constraints in API data
Background
I work for a company that provides installation instructions for solar panels on roofs. We also provide an API where external parties can provide roof input and preferences, and return an ...
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1
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What is the proper diagram to describe an event subscriber final graph?
I'm working on a microservice application and I need to describe the complete execution graph of a specific event being published, where each node in the graph is a specific microservice subscription ...
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1
answer
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Writing Release Notes for gradual feature rollout
Our software product is not complete, but it is functional enough that one of our clients is using it.
We produce release notes with every sprint. The notes are divided into sections such as "New ...
2
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1
answer
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How can I write good Conventional Commit-style commit messages for one feature over multiple commits?
If I am working on a single feature, I would usually commit multiple commits. Should every commit start with feat? Or should only 1 commit have the type of feat and use a different type for the other ...
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7
answers
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Should a rookie hint be mentioned in the documentation or not?
I was invited to review some code.
I've never done that before and barely know the project.
Thus I'm following the README step by step.
I log everything.
The README says in its "Quickstart" ...
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2
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Is using KDoc/Javadoc comments inside of a function considered bad practice?
I often find it helpful to use KDoc/Javadoc comments inside of a class or function instead of normal comments. IntelliJ colorizes them more obviously by default and, more importantly, allows ...
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How should I list authors and their roles in doxygen comments?
Suppose I'm the first person write a proper Doxygen comment for a source file. Suppose also that there have been multiple contributors to the file - original author, previous maintainers, current ...
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11
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The Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle in documentation
Dave Thomas, the author of the Don't Repeat Yourself principle said:
DRY says that every piece of system knowledge should have one
authoritative, unambiguous representation. Every piece of knowledge ...
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1
answer
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Where would you place the working description for a function?
i like to think out a function using comments before writing it. I'd like to keep the information in the code as comments somewhere but i don't know where it should be kept. At the moment i keep it at ...
user362602
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1
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Use case descriptions -- where does selection go?
I have a use case for which a user can perform a multiselection. I am writing the use case description and wonder: Should the selection action be documented as a trigger of the use case, or in the ...
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4
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Is it good practice to put comment headers into each file?
I have an Unity project with countless of C# script files and I'm working on it solely.
Although nobody else is working on it, I'm aware that some form of code documentation is crucial for my future ...
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4
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What is the Software Engineering equivalent of a traditional Engineering Change Order (ECO)? [closed]
What best practices do large software companies recommend when introducing a breaking-change to their software development process? Put another way, how do you best communicate these changes to fellow ...
1
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1
answer
169
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Code reference symbols in documentation, comments and pull requests?
I've seen method references in PRs and comments and documentation but it's unclear what the specific symbology means.
E.g. ClassName#myMethod or ClassName::myMethod or what about ClassName::CONSTANT
...
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2
votes
1
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203
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What types of documents should I include in a legacy software documentation package?
TL;DR: What would you look for in a collection of documentation when taking over an app to be run a larger scale than originally designed for?
I've been tasked with writing documentation for an ...
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