How Code Documentation Can Be Helpful To A Software Engineer !

 Documentation is essential to every development process, it provides better communication and collaboration, raises the product quality and other qualities that would make the developer's life easier.

What is documentation

    Software documentation is a written text or illustration that accompanies computer software or is embedded in the source code. The documentation either explains how the software operates or how to use it, and may mean different things to people in different roles.

    We can see various types of documentation serving different roles in software developing, such as : Install manual, Read Me File, License file… etc.

Why should I document code

    The natural course of any kind of development is to extend and grow, and to do that you need to have clear and well written pieces of logic which would be easy to implement and manipulate. 

    

    Documentation is to be used as a tool to make communication easier between team members, to extend code in a more efficient way and refactor whenever necessary. It is quietly important to the development of any kind of product, the absence of this behavior would lead to a series of useless clean ups and fixes later consuming a considerable amount of time and effort.

How do I do it 

    Writing documentation can be dull and time consuming task. However, there are many tools which can be helpful. There are many tools that can be helpful in code documenting, such as :

Doxygen (C, C++, C#, Java, …), Ghostdoc (C#, Visual Basic, C++, Javascript), Javadoc(Java), Jsdoc(Javascript) and we can find tutorials explaining how to use them !

    

    We can document our product the same way if we use any different language than the one that is already in use. The variance in programming languages does not affect the way we document a software project.

Documentation Types 

    In the software business, the development process is essential and foundational, and according to the approach that had been taken we should write documentation. Thus, we should understand that there are many kinds of documentation that details the phases through to the final product.

    We can distinguish some commonly used types: System Documentation, Software Document, Quality Assurance Document and Source Documentation … etc. 

    Some may classify these types into two main categories : Product Documentation and Process Documentation. System Documentation for example, a product documentation, includes design docs, architecture descriptions, source code and help guides. 

    Another example of process documentation is plans and schedules that are updated along the project conception and execution.

Conclusion

    Knowing how to answer why, how and what in any software project means that whenever and whoever is working on it, is capable of maintaining it or developing it, and that's what documentation is all about !

    Documentation offers to us a well organized and defined knowledge that should be used to keep the project stable, solid and of course comprehensible to everyone involved.