Java has acquired the status of being a universal language for development. All major software companies are providing support for Java programming. On the other hand, there is an increasing demand for documentation of these software products. However, normal textual documents and screenshots can’t do justice to contain all the information related to any given Java package. Thus, there is a competitive market among various software companies as well as independent documentations tools vendors. But what are best ways of choosing right java tools? We will try to answer this question in this article.
As it is well known, documentation is important for all software development project. Therefore developers and engineers, as well as IT managers devote a lot of time and effort to create an effective, worthwhile documentation of their software products. This is extremely crucial for complex projects with several projects that are developed and supported in parallel, which use complex technical solutions.
Java documentation is necessary for a developer because it is a kind of tool that helps you to know about the complete features and functionalities of some application. Java documentation helps in gaining knowledge about the Java language, the application and its development environment. Documentations are designed to provide client server functionality.
Java is a widely used language and it has been around for quite a while. There are a ton of libraries that exist. Having documentation for all the libraries is important and can be just as challenging. In this article we will discuss the best documentation tools for Java.
Why API Documentation Matters
API documentation is human and machine-readable technical content that explains how a specific API works and what it is able to do. Its purpose is twofold. Firstly, it is an accurate reference source that describes the API in detail. Secondly, it can act as a guide and teaching tool that helps users get started and use it.
Done correctly, API documentation acts as the one true source of information for how an API works. It should contain details on functions, arguments, classes, and more in a structured format that is easy for both developers and non-technical users to understand. Often, it will include tutorials and examples, which will help the user better understand how the different parts work together.
Investing time and resources into creating high quality API documentation leads to many benefits:
- Reduced Onboarding Time – Customers and internal users can access the information they need to start using and benefiting from your API immediately.
- Reduced Reliance on Support – Good documentation reduces the strain on your API experts and helps other users find their own answers. This applies regardless of whether your API is internal-only or used by thousands of customers,
- Encourage Non-Engineering Users – By increasing the understanding of non-coding colleagues, your API documentation enables better discussions around how your APIs and data can be used to achieve your business goals.
- Increased Adoption Rate – Easy-to-use API documentation will increase the rate with which new users can start using your API. By providing a better user experience, businesses will benefit from increased word-of-mouth marketing, which leads to faster adoption.
- Improved User Satisfaction – Happy customers and colleagues improve your business’s reputation.
Tallyfy
Tallyfy is workflow and process management software that lets you capture and automate your company’s knowledge. This software offers the ability to see the status of your tasks, and it is built to integrate into many other systems like Slack or Gmail. It also automates the process of tracking document changes.
GitHub
GitHub is a cloud-based website and service that stores code and helps developers control and track changes through a version control system called GIT to host and review code. In addition to their repository, they offer GitHub Pages, a website hosting service that takes files directly from a GitHub repository and runs the files through a process that creates a website. This feature gives developers an easy way to create software documentation in plain text or Markdown.
Apiary
Apiary by Oracle is a dedicated host for Application Programming Interface (API) documentation that lets you design, prototype, document, and test APIs. One helpful feature is the ability to prototype an API without written code.
Read the Docs
Read the Docs is open-source documentation software that helps developers build and host documents. It can also build multiple versions of your documents by creating a separate branch or tag in your version control system, which is helpful for making sure your documents stay up to date.
MarkdownPad
MarkdownPad is a full-featured Markdown editor for Windows. This tool allows you to create text-based web content, blog posts, websites, articles, READMEs, and software documentation.
Typora
Typora is a simple document reader and writer that provides support for Markdown — a plain text format that’s easy to read and write. This software appeals to developers who want to remove distractions by hiding unwanted elements, like preview windows. It also has a live preview feature to allow you to focus on your content.
Doxygen
Doxygen is a top-rated tool for generating documentation from annotated C++ sources, and it supports other programming languages. It can generate online documentation and offline reference manuals from specific source files by extracting information directly from the source, creating continuity between your documentation and source code.
iA Writer
iA Writer is a popular Markdown editor with a focus on writing. When you use iA Writer you will be impressed by its unique writing experience that allows you to hone and clarify your message. When writing in the editor, iA Writer highlights only the sentence or paragraph you’re working on, and uses syntax highlighting to help you spot superfluous adjectives, weak verbs, and repetitions. You can export your Markdown files to HTML, PDF, and Microsoft Word file format using custom templates. The interface is minimalist, eliminating distractions, and allows you to focus purely on the text. iA Writer is $29.99 on macOS.
Pros
- Makes writing a breeze due to the distraction-free interface.
- Works on MacOS, Windows, and iOS.
Cons
- Doesn’t offer any storage for your files so you will need to integrate with another service like Google Drive.
- Isn’t cloud-based so you won’t be able to share your documentation with anyone else.
SimpleMDE
SimpleMDE is a WYSIWYG Markdown editor built on JavaScript. It’s free and open source, so you can take advantage of this software for your documentation without paying a penny. SimpleMDE has a focus on creating simple documentation that includes autosave and spell checking. If you don’t know Markdown then you can use the WYSIWYG editor to style and format your files using familiar toolbar buttons and shortcuts. The syntax is rendered while editing so you can preview the final result. SimpleMDE is free and open source.
Pros
- Simple editor for creating Markdown files.
Cons
- There is no way to host your documentation for end-users to share.
Tettra
Tettra is an internal knowledge base that organizes your scattered company knowledge so you can use it to answer your team’s repetitive questions right in Slack or MS Teams. It’s suitable for internal software documentation with a user-friendly and intuitive User Interface. This software is built in a Q&A style format so users can ask questions and get answers in Tettra. With the Slack and MS Teams integration, you can answer questions directly in these platforms by linking to existing content. Tettra allows you to define knowledge experts within the interface so the right people can answer questions. You have the ability to ask Subject Matter Experts to verify content according to a set schedule, so your content is never out-of-date. Teammates can also request new pages or request page updates so you can fill the gaps in your content. Tettra is $8.33 per user per month for the scaling plan.
Pros
- Tettra is a simple platform that streamlines all your documents in one place.
- It makes it easy to keep documents up-to-date.
Cons
- Drafts can only be worked on by one individual with no collaborative editing.
- It’s not possible to create a public knowledge base for your software documentation.
Whatfix
Whatfix is a Digital Adoption Platform that gives you the ability to create step-by-step walkthroughs that guide your employees through your software. If you already have a knowledge base, Whatfix allows you to display your site in a self-help widget so users never have to leave the platform. Whatfix helps companies to create interactive walkthroughs that display within web applications. The product increases user adoption, decreases training costs and provides self-service support for users of software applications. The form of this documentation can take interactive guidance, contextual walk-throughs, self-help FAQs and more. The platform provides in-depth analytics so you can figure out how users are engaging with your content and whether they are learning from it. Contact Whatfix for a pricing quote.
Pros
- In-depth platform highly tailored towards user learning.
- Flexible according to your organization’s needs.
Cons
- Might be overkill if all you want is a simple knowledge base for your documentation.
ProProfs Knowledge Base
ProProfs Knowledge Base is a simple and versatile tool that helps you create software documentation of top-notch quality for your end-users. Packed with bespoke features, the tool simplifies software documentation and assists you at all stages of content creation, right from authoring to publishing.
If you are worried about where to start, fret not. The tool offers ready-to-use templates that give you a good starting point to build content. You can write and style the entire software documentation just the way you want with the wide array of formatting features ProProfs Knowledge Base provides.
In addition to this, features like single sourcing, revision history, import, and export, further improve the process of creating and managing online documentation.
Rating: 4.6/5
Pricing: Starts at $30/author/month
Process Street
Process Street is another tool for software documentation that deserves your attention. It comes with a simple interface that lets you build structured software documentation for your end-users. With intuitive keyboard shortcuts and drag and drop functionality, Process Street makes document authoring easy for everyone in your development team. You can also add visual and audio elements to your document and turn it into a media-rich information resource.
In addition to this, it allows developers to work in collaboration and take full accountability for the assigned software development tasks.
Rating: 4.6/5
Pricing: Starts at $25/user/month
Zoho Docs
Zoho’s documentation software is fully customizable and highly secure. It supports multi-branding, domain mapping, a powerful authoring system, and forums and communities. All these features and many more are designed to help you create, manage, and maintain your software documentation with ease.
What sets Zoho’s documentation software apart from others is that it allows your software users to engage in discussions, give and get suggestions, and share ideas on built-in forums and communities. This makes the ultimate user experience much better as they get the best of both the worlds – self-service as well as direct interaction with fellow users.
Rating: 4.5/5
Pricing: Starts at $10.75/agent/month
Bit.ai
Bit.ai is a document creation and collaboration tool comprising features across user management, customization, content authoring, and security. While developers can use the software to create code blocks and collaborate with one another, end-users, on the other hand, get a well-structured document that delivers information instantly.
Bit.ai supports Markdown editor, keyboard shortcuts, inline comments, and many other features that are vital for 360° management of your documentation. You can also create unlimited code blocks that are helpful for building technical documents such as reference guides, manuals, software documents, etc.
Rating: 4.7/5
Pricing: Starts at $8/member/month
What Makes a Great API Documentation?
Creating great API documentation is a delicate balancing act between providing detailed technical information and displaying it in a way that is easy to consume. The best way to see how it should be done is to look at examples of businesses that are doing well – thankfully, they’re not hard to find.
Many popular tools publish their API documentation online so that 3rd-party developers can get easy access to them. Stripe and Twilio are two great examples of documentation done right. Although their solutions are developed in-house, the best practice they display is still useful for businesses looking to create their own API documentation. Here are a few of the reasons why these sets of documentation are so effective:
- They provide example code in the documentation so that users can see how it works in practice.
- They make it easy to find solutions to common problems so that busy developers can get what they need quickly.
- They don’t provide unnecessary information that isn’t required to understand the API and how it works. When users are busy working and hit a problem, they want usable documentation, not extraneous information.
- They don’t assume a certain level of knowledge – the simplest concepts are as fully-explained as the most difficult ones.
- They are well-formatted. The content is organized and consistent and easy to read. This reduces friction for users who are looking to learn or solve a problem.
Conclusion
A good documentation is one of the most important things that a developer needs. It could help you get your work done better, and faster. There are many java tools available these days. You can use them to write and compile code .
Documentation is a crucial part of software development, as it makes it easier to understand the code and collaborate with other developers. Furthermore, if you finalize your product and want to ship it, having proper documentation will help you to hand over your project to those who might continue with future development.