When you create a code, your goal is obvious — to make it functional, efficient, and above all; reusable. But if the maintenance of the created product starts being difficult, impossible or even tedious, you’re in trouble. Thus, a good code documentation can be like an oasis.
Best App for Code Documentation is an app that generates documentation projects, manages and produces documentations.It is the best tool to use when creating a repository of documents. Users can create projects, add documents within these projects, as well as manage documents as a whole. It’s all you need when it comes to documentation tools!
Every programmer has to write documentation. He or she must know how to properly write code documentation for their programs, whether the program is for internal users or public use. Code documentations are quite crucial to a programmer especially when the program is for a professional and external purposes.
Compliment a developer’s handiwork by creating clear, well-organized and easy-to-read documentation. Generate automatic reference documentation from your code, and easily customize to fit your needs. By importing Swagger APIs and JSDocs into Stoplight, you’ll be able to effortlessly produce beautifully styled documentation pages for your products
Tools to automatically generate documentation from source code
There’s nothing like the human touch when it comes to documentation (it’s clear in the docs of Slack and Giphy, to name a couple). However, as a starting point (especially for huge source libraries), it’s best to generate the skeletal documentation automatically. This work by analyzing the source’s functions and comments, and there are a few different options depending on language:
- Doxygen (C, C++, C♯, D, Fortran, IDL, Java, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Tcl, and VHDL)
- GhostDoc (C#, Visual Basic, C++/CLI, JavaScript)
- Javadoc (Java only)
- Docurium (Ruby)
Before you go ahead and rely solely on automatic generation, I’d suggest reading this StackExchange thread which weighs the pros and cons.
LiveEdu
If you are reading this, you must be thinking how a social project broadcasting can be a tool for code documentation? The answer lies in the term, “Video code documentation.”
You can broadcast or store your project work directly on Livecoding. By doing this, you will be able to easily allow your team members access to important sections of the project. There are multiple benefits for using Livecoding as a tool to document your code. Some of them are mentioned below:
Video documentation benefits in a nutshell
- It enhances pure text-written documentation and gives better context and understanding to the reader.
- Agile teams can easily keep track of the project changes.
- Technical writers can utilize the video code documentation to understand the project better.
- Developers can invest their saved time in implementing other project functionalities.
Doxygen
Doxygen is a great tool for generating documentation from source code. The tool is aimed at C++, but it can also be used with PHP, Java, Python, etc. With the help of Doxygen, you can create online HTML documentation. It can also be used to generate output in multiple formats, including Unix man pages, PostScript, etc.
The biggest advantage of using Doxygen is that you will have consistency throughout your source code documentation. It can also help you to generate code structure using the undocumented source files. All you need to do is configure it accordingly.
Sphinx
Sphinx is a popular documentation tool for the programmers. It is available under BSD license and support multiple programming languages such as Python, C, and C++. Sphinx is ideal for developers who want to organize their documentation. It can be used for both project documentation and code documentation. Some features of Sphinx include extensive cross-references, multiple output formats, automatic indices, extension support, etc.
Pandoc
Pandoc is not like other code documentation tools out there. It acts as a Swiss Army knife and enables a developer to quickly convert one markup format to another. If you like writing your own code documentation in markup, and quickly want to convert to another format, Pandoc is for you. It has a wide range of document support, including textile, reStrcuturedText, LaTex, ePUB, etc.
Moreover, it offers multiple markdown syntax extensions, including definition lists, tables, footnotes, etc. Check out the official page for a full list of supported extensions and document format.
Zeal
Need a comprehensible documentation app, but fear you may not have the constant internet support to use it? Well, that’s not an issue with Zeal.
Zeal is a simple offline API documentation browser inspired by Dash, but is only available for Linux and Windows, sorry Mac users.
With Zeal you can quickly search documentation and display Zeal from any place in your workspace. You can even search in multiple sets of documentation at the same time! With Zeal you don’t have to be dependant on an internet connection
Zest
Zest is another great offline search tool for developers. Giving you the ability to find what you need without Internet access. Zest uses full text search, both in symbol names and documentation contents.
This allows the user to find detailed information not available in document names. It also has DevDocs documentation support.
Zest is simple and straight to the point, especially good for seasoned developers.
Bonus: Includes StackOverflow results in the sidebar!
Velocity
Windows users; Velocity is the answer for you.
With over 150+ API documentation sets available, and covering some of the most popular languages and API frameworks. Of course, it also allows for both offline and online use. Velocity carries the very same docsets as Dash, this has given it the title “The Dash of Windows”.
Apiary (for API use)
As well as being a place where bees live, Apiary is a dedicated host for API documentation. Write in markdown, add mock API calls and Apiary collates that into something like you see below:
Anyone can test the API without having to go into the app or actually program a call, which makes it a super accessible way to share your API, document it in-depth, and boast about what it can do.
Whatfix
Whatfix is a Digital Adoption Platform that allows you to create step-by-step walkthroughs that act as real-time software documentation by guiding employees through your software. If you already have a knowledge base, you can display your documentation in a self-help widget.
Whatfix is redefining how software documentation is displayed and consumed, with new content embedded directly within your software applications in forms such as interactive guidance, contextual walkthroughs, self-help FAQs, popup notifications and beacons, and more. The platform also allows you to measure the usage and effectiveness of your documentation with user analytics.
Bit.ai
Bit.ai is a documentation collaboration platform that allows you to manage all of your documents in one place. It allows you to create notes, documents, and wikis, and you can manage your company’s documentation across teams or departments.
ProProfs
ProProfs knowledge base software is a knowledge management tool that lets you create searchable online FAQs and help docs. In addition, you can add videos, audio, images, and infographics to your documentation to make your software documentation more interactive and compelling.
Document360
Document360 is a software documentation tool that gives you complete 360 support for your project documentation. You can create rich documentation with ease using features such as the Markdown & WYSIWYG editor for efficient and structured writing. Other notable features include an uncompromised authoring experience, a rich theme, built-in analytics, enterprise-grade backup & restore, versioning capabilities, and so on.
With simple configuration features, you can manage various project documentation, configure numerous users, and examine analytics to help you maintain your knowledge base content fresh and relevant. It offers robust security like IP Restriction, Custom Domain Mapping, Enterprise SSO, Cookie Consent etc.
You can also integrate with a variety of third-party helpdesk, chatbot, and CRO technologies, such as Zendesk, Intercom, Hotjar and Zapier. As a result, it is appropriate development software for all business sizes
GitHub (& GitHub Pages)
If you’re using GitHub to manage version control for your software, you have, at the bare minimum, a README.MD file in the repository. To use GitHub for documenting your software, like millions of others have done in the past, just fill that README in with markdown.
A great example is sferik’s t repository, screenshotted here:
If you want more than just one sheet of formatted text, you can take advantage of GitHub’s Pages tool (you get one free webpage + hosting with each GitHub account, and you can even route a custom domain to it). Pages even has great looking default themes that make your documentation look professional.
Above is atom.io documentation for Electron hosted on GitHub. It’s a smart choice because it automatically works with GitHub’s version control, just like the rest of your software. See the site’s repository here.
Dropbox Paper (for internal use)
For internal software documentation use, Dropbox Paper is an excellent choice. Like its predecessor Hackpad, you can use it to create a private wiki for employees. You can link documents together, insert code blocks, images and page jumps, just as you’d demand from any documentation tool.
As you can see from the comments on the right, you can also use it to go through approval processes and collaborate over the creation of documentation. Overall, it’s a great tool for internally developing and creating documentation, perhaps with the view to publicize it later, or just keep it for internal use.
Atlassian REST API Browser (for API use)
Atlassian’s REST API Browser (RAB) is included in JIRA Server, Confluence Server and Stash instances by default. It’s built for discovering APIs available for use in JIRA/Confluence environments, and also a place to host your documentation. If, of course, your API fits the bill.
Document your API using this tool to give your JIRA/Confluence compatible API more exposure. Check here for Atlassian’s documentation on doing that.
Tettra (for internal use)
Tettra is a kind of knowledge base software where you can document your development, or anything at all.
We use Tettra internally at Process Street for a bunch of use cases. Day to day, I use Tettra to have a single place where all my processes are documented so that I never forget how one relates to another or how the various automations we’ve built have been set up.
Tettra is great if you’re looking to create a library of sorts. This means it’s brilliant for software documentation or even just as an internal wiki for your company.
Given that Tettra is specifically designed for knowledge management, it comes with a host of other supporting features too. For example, it can make suggestions as to what extra content or sections you might want to add to give a more complete picture of your org and how things fit together.
Good Documentation Helps Users
Documentation helps the reader understand how a code works, obviously. But many developers make the mistake of assuming that the users of the software will be proficient.
Hence, the documentation may be thin material, skipping a lot of the essentials it should have contained from the beginning. If you are savvy in the language, you can figure things out on your own initiative; if you are not, then you are lost.
Documentation intended for users usually consists of practical use or the “how-to”. The rule of thumb when creating documentation for general users is that it should be clear-cut. Using human-friendly words is preferable to technical terms or jargon. Real use examples will also be greatly appreciated.
A good layout design would also really help users scan through each section of the documentation without eye-strain. A few good examples (aka my favorites) are documentation for Bootstrap and WordPress‘ “First Steps With WordPress”.
Conclusion
A code documentation tool has obvious importance in the case of large projects where a lot of developers are working. As you may have guessed, these closely tie into the aspect of project management as well as versioning and troubleshooting. Code documentation is a software development task. Code documentation may be manual or automated, but it must guarantee that the information stored in the code is available to whoever needs it. Ideally, you want your code or application to be read by anyone who wants to understand how your app works.
This code documentation app helps developers to explain code functionality and provide sample code. It is inspired by github-style markdown and supports front-matter, table of contents and sql syntax highlighting.