Software documentation is written text that accompanies computer software. It either explains how it operates or how to use it, and may mean different things to people in different roles.
1
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1answer
117 views
How to make Doxygen documentation that helps in understanding the code?
So a few years ago I came across a statement that most of the Doxygen generated documentation out there is quite bad. "Bad" in the sense that defies the purpose of documentation and doesn't help in ...
0
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3answers
74 views
Seeking advice writing functional requirements [duplicate]
I inherited a project that I've been maintaining for approximately a year now. The project primarily revolves around performing various financial calculations for the end user. It's roughly 100,000 ...
-1
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2answers
110 views
How can I refer to the standard language documentation less? [closed]
When I code in a language (ex. Ruby) I find myself looking up things in the standard ruby docs quite a bit. Array#include? for example (I had tried Array#contains?), method names I feel I shouldn't ...
0
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0answers
30 views
Is this synchronization required in service onCreate method?
Below is a sample code i captured from android doc
Per service instance onCreate will be called only once. Ref: here and here
The synchronization and singleton doesn't make any sense to me in this ...
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1answer
53 views
Does phpDocumentor tags order matter?
When we document our class, method and/or function with phpDocumentor, is there any specific order I should follow according to the standards?
I know it doesn't matter for output the document. Since ...
44
votes
12answers
6k views
Is there any logical reason to auto-generate code documentation? [closed]
Automatic documentation generation can be done with a variety of tools, GhostDoc being one of the more prominent. However, by definition, everything it generates is redundant. It takes a look at ...
18
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1answer
1k views
When systems get larger and larger, how do you keep a global understanding of your system? [duplicate]
Today I realized painfully that for some decisions you need a good overall understanding of the system. Otherwise, the risk is too high that your assumption turn out to be wrong.
Imagine that you are ...
159
votes
15answers
26k views
What's wrong with comments that explain complex code?
A lot of people claim that "comments should explain 'why', but not 'how'". Others say that "code should be self-documenting" and comments should be scarce. Robert C. Martin claims that (rephrased to ...
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1answer
128 views
Changelog Management [closed]
I'm currently developing a WinForm application.
In order to inform the client about the improvements and corrections made during the last version, I would like to manage and display a changelog.
I ...
9
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1answer
208 views
Implied precision of floating-point functions
While reviewing another programmer's implementation of a function to calculate the normal distribution CDF, I made a suggestion to either replace the entire implementation with Python's built-in ...
3
votes
1answer
84 views
When to declare @throws with a Scala annotation - abstract parent or concrete implementation?
In this StackOverflow question I asked about the behavior of the @throws annotation in Scala. Now that I understand how it works I want to ask about best practices with using it. Here's a repost of my ...
1
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0answers
29 views
New project from a third party and documentation [duplicate]
I'm going to become the custodian of an iOS project developed by a third party and my boss just asked me for a list of documentation that I think we should be asking the third party for when they hand ...
74
votes
12answers
6k views
Should the commit history be used to convey critical information to developers?
Recently a conversation came up during a meeting regarding the rollback of a third-party SDK from the latest version and it was noted that the fact it shouldn't be used was already in the commit ...
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2answers
116 views
Referencing StackOverflow questions in comments [duplicate]
Often when coding I'll get stuck on a particularly tricky problem and will go about searching for a solution. More often than not this leads me to a StackOverflow question that provides a full or ...
56
votes
11answers
7k views
How should I remember what I was doing and why on a project 3 months back?
I was working on this project 3 months back, and then suddenly another urgent project appeared and I was asked to shift my attention there.
Now, from tomorrow I'll be heading back to my old project ...
1
vote
2answers
86 views
How specific should be an interface about its implementation details?
Perhaps I should have picked a better title, but anyway...
Basically what to do with two or more implementations that have the same public interface, but they are meant for slightly different ...
0
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1answer
45 views
Referencing official documentation in source-code documentation
What are your preferences for referencing official documentation (like a white paper) for an algorithm from comments in
the code that implements it? I'm trying to decide between two methods, as ...
5
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2answers
305 views
How to do documentation for code and why is software (often) poorly documented?
There are some good examples of well-documented code out there, such as java api. But, a lot of code in public projects such as git and internal projects of companies is poorly documented and not very ...
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5answers
179 views
How viable is to create a mini documentation inside the source code
So, I work as a developer. We are a small team. The majority of the people (everyone except the project manager and the senior developer) are still in university. We have very flexible work hours, ...
3
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2answers
189 views
Is it customary for software companies to forbid code authors from taking credit for their work? do code authors have a say?
The company I work for has decided that the source code for a set of tools they make available to customers is also going to be made available to those customers.
Since I am the author of that source ...
0
votes
1answer
143 views
Your thoughts on Best Practices for Scientific Computing? [closed]
A recent paper by Wilson et al (2014) pointed out 24 Best Practices for scientific programming. It's worth to have a look. I would like to hear opinions about these points from experienced programmers ...
1
vote
1answer
48 views
What does backup procedures and troubleshooting guidelines mean for a system
I am writing the documentation for a piece of software which I have made but I don't understand what it means in some aspects.
It asks me to write about backup procedures but what exactly does this ...
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votes
1answer
47 views
Where can I find better designed nginx documentation? [closed]
Actually I have a sub-question here:"Is Nginx official documentation opensourced?"
Nginx is a good software, but I found its official documentation(http://nginx.org/en/docs/ really hard to read, ...
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0answers
15 views
Scala/SBT - Documenting Configuration Change for Releases
I'm trying to collect different ways of managing configuration across multiple environments.
I have a requirement to document configuration changes for the deployment plan.
Dev values are defaults in ...
0
votes
3answers
142 views
What goes within the Architecture Overview of a Design Specification?
I have designed an management system for a medical practice and I am writing the design specification and I am kind of stumped by what to write for a section.
It asks for me to write about the ...
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1answer
194 views
As an lone, Agile (PXP/PSP) developer what is the proper structure for a formal project post-mortem? [closed]
Question:
As an lone, Agile (PXP/PSP) developer what is the proper structure for a formal project post-mortem?
Scenario
I'm using a PXP methodology (which is a blend of extreme programming and the ...
3
votes
2answers
108 views
How to document a file format specification [closed]
For a project, I need to work with varying types of files from some old games and related software--configuration files, saves, resource archives, and so on. The bulk of these aren't yet documented, ...
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votes
3answers
165 views
Has there been any formal proof that documentation in general is incomplete and obsolete to a certain grade? [closed]
I'm a web developer and I'm currently once again in a situation where a partly clueless ops department requires a "complete" documentation required for technical support of our application by a ...
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2answers
77 views
How to write descriptive conditionals for ifs?
I've gotten into the habit of using excessively descriptive names. In addition, I've also gotten into the habit of creating the conditions for ifs like so:
bool user_is_female = user.get_gender() ...
17
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4answers
2k views
How to document the high-level structure of a Java program?
Background:
My collaborators and I are writing an article for an academic journal.
In the course of our research,
we wrote a simulation program in Java.
We want to make the simulation program freely ...
1
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2answers
148 views
How should I document a multi-tier application?
I have to create a documentation structure for a legacy application, and I'm not sure of how to organize it.
Documentation goals:
List of use-Cases
Program flow for each of the use cases. ...
0
votes
0answers
42 views
How would you collect the ideas that needs to be discussed during time [duplicate]
What is the best way of collecting and/or keep tracking of ideas/issues that needs to be discussed in details and during the time?
As an example, imagine within the team you're brainstorming about ...
0
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1answer
97 views
Documentation required for commissioned software (product) [closed]
The company I work for has commissioned a software company to produce a compliance software for several big companies. As part of our contract it is required of them to provide us with src code and ...
5
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4answers
180 views
Keeping documentation / manuals up-to-date in a rapidly changing project
Background
I work on a relatively large project (~570 KLOC) in a relatively small team (formerly 5 developers, now 2). Large amounts of code can appear and then vanish in months; for example, a few ...
1
vote
2answers
127 views
How to document self explanatory setter functions? [duplicate]
Often boolean setters are pretty self-explanatory, like setLogErrors($bool). I do see some benefit of providing some additional information in the documentation, in this instance maybe where these ...
0
votes
2answers
48 views
Multiple documentation issues in a single bug
It is clearly a bad practice to incorporate several issues in a single bug. It is not convenient, hard to maintain, difficult to keep track of what is done and what is not, etc.
But does all this ...
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votes
1answer
152 views
Best practices in Application's flow diagram [closed]
I make web applications, mostly MVC, object oriented and database enabled. I always have trouble going back to project after a few months of release and work again. I don't even remember what I made ...
0
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1answer
41 views
Am I allowed to use text(snippets) from the iOS Developer Lib for my documentation?
At the moment, I create a Java-Wrapper for Apples *.pkpass-Files (Passbook).
Since I need to parse a JSon-File, I planned to add java doc to every field, so one know what exactly this field is in the ...
0
votes
1answer
76 views
How to organize software document for the same application supporing both iOS and Android
I have to write software project documentation for an application which will support both iOS and Android. Each platform has its specific features and the mobile app design and requirements are almost ...
2
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1answer
170 views
Outline for technical software documentation
Say I have a software project for which the technical documentation should include
A license document
A list of used terminology
An introduction about what the software does
A short quick-start ...
1
vote
1answer
115 views
Use of # in answers/documentation when referring to methods of a class
When looking through Java documentation or answers for Stack Overflow / programming forum questions, I often see people referring to methods like String#format, Object#clone etc, rather than ...
1
vote
2answers
166 views
Documenting/defining data structures in Python
What is the preferred way to document the contents of and logic behind dynamically generated data structures in Python? E.g. a dict which contains the mapping of a string to a list of lists of ...
1
vote
3answers
121 views
How to consider the login function collecting requirements of an application? is it a user requirement?
I am working on an application that expected to the user logs in when the application is started (as for example it is in Skype: the user open the application and appear to him a login mask when he ...
4
votes
3answers
552 views
Is it Typical for Large Software Companies to Not Document or Refactor Code? [closed]
I have begun working at a large software company and was assigned to a project that is over a million and a half lines of code. It's part of a program suite that is sold to clients (not an in-house ...
7
votes
4answers
466 views
How to categorise information in end-user documentation?
One of the greatest piece of documentation I ever read is the TeXbook by Donald Knuth—the manual of the TeX typesetting system, and I used it in my first analysis.
As far as I can tell, the type of ...
4
votes
3answers
124 views
Would adding an @beta doc-comment tag be useful?
When a function has reached the end of its life, we add a @deprecated tag into its doc-comment to notify other developers that they should stop using this function, and then a couple years later it's ...
1
vote
2answers
312 views
When to write software project documentation on code [duplicate]
I usually write my software projects in java, and I am still a bit confused as to when to document my classes, interfaces and methods.
There are two ways:
1) Write documentation after declaring or ...
1
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2answers
157 views
Tender vs. Requirements vs. Solution Design
Conventionally, which of the above documents is deemed to hold the most weight when it comes to system acceptance?
I recently had a conversation along these lines:
It was argued that the initial ...
1
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1answer
91 views
Is there a tool to generate multi-goal procedural instructions? [closed]
As a user: When I have good instructions to follow I'm sure I could do just about anything. With poor instructions I end up frustrated, wasting time and probably giving up.
The type of instruction I ...
2
votes
3answers
330 views
How to explain to non-programmer to build my Visual Studio source code in “Release” mode?
I'm writing documentation for some software that I wrote. Specifically, I'm writing a guide to installing the software. I'm delivering the source-code to my client, so I expect that they will want ...
