Documentation aaaaarrrrgggggg

V 0

I usually try to enforce a code freeze a few weeks before release. (depending on the size and complexity of the package). In that time I make sure to write the documentation and create install procedures and the like. :rolleyes:

V.
(MQOTD rules and previous solutions)

Mike Hankey

The problem is I understand what I write but few others do. :)

New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription. I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.

Sander Rossel

My code is self-documenting :D I hate documenting my code (i.e. writing manuals), unless it is to teach others how to use a certain technology (like in my blog or articles). And I'm not particulary bad at it. But I do have a degree in Media and Journalism, so I may not be your average documentor :D

My blog[^]

public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}

Mike Hankey

Sander Rossel wrote:

My code is self-documenting

As it should be. :)

New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription. I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.

Marc Clifton

Mike Hankey wrote:

Why is it that we as programmers hate to document?

I must be some weird outlier because I actually quite enjoy documenting, everything from story boarding to code docs to architecture acceptance test procedures (probably nobody has heard of those things nowadays) to user manuals. One thing that's fun about documentation is that I often have the experience "oh wow, I could have done that so much better this way." I also find it interesting, in a sort of sad way, how little pre-code documentation is written, stuff like architecture, diagrams of component interactions, etc. To me, that stuff is like writing an outline to a book -- if you do it well, the book basically writes itself afterwards. Same with architecture / design docs -- do it well and the code "just happens." Sure, there are always sticky areas, but overall, that's been my experience. Then again, we really don't have decent tools for a) documenting from code and b) coding from documentation. Even simple things like diagramming a state system or inter-module events, where are the tools to generate the code in a language agnostic way but still cognizant of the language features and framework the dev wants to work in? They don't exist. What I find tedious is not the documentation, but having a pretty diagram in Visio and then having to write the damn code, when I should have a tool to at least generate 90% of the code for me! Anyways, enough of that soapbox. :) Marc

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Mike Hankey

I agree documentation tools are pretty much non existent, pity would really help poor souls like me. I think my biggest problem is my grasp of the English language. One tends to fear what one does not understand. You, Sasha, Nish and others have a writing style that I envy. I excel in other areas; trivia, kick the can, distance spitting, etc.. :)

New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription. I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.

glennPattonPub

Self Documenting Code... I always thought it was a buzz word way to get out of using comments/documentation, I have hardware projects to take over that were self documenting apart from the input, power amp it wasn't! same with code 'Oh I see what is being done, but why?' is a common in my experience! :wtf:

Mike Hankey

I'm finding that with hardware I need to document also but in a different way; I keep notes, schematics, images of the final product, etc. then when I go back some time later it is a lot easier to remember seeing that I have the CRS syndrome.

New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription. I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.

RedDk

You don't get paid enough to document code. I'm looking at very sparse data array of informative statistics about contacts from my landlord warning me of imminent water shut offs. I see four notices over a years' time, and only two of them in which the water was indeed shut off. How is this data? It's uninteresting PLUS it's only pseudo valuable in that it contains only partial information about what it's entitled to contain. Perhaps if the water really did get shut off, I'd be happier about being notified.

Mike Hankey

RedDk wrote:

You don't get paid enough to document code.

I don't get paid anything for writing code, I do it for the fun of it.

New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 There's a fine line between crazy and free spirited and it's usually a prescription. I'm currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too but the possibilities are endless.

Lost User

Use examples. Everyone understands and example

PooperPig - Coming Soon

Mycroft Holmes

I have enjoyed writing doco precisely once in my entire life, in the early 90s I got paid approx $5k to build an app. In the late 90s they wanted to rewrite it into Delphi, when I refused they asked me to write the technical spec so their coders could work from it, I charged $20k and laughed all the way to the bank. It is the only time I think I have actually done a good job of doco, they got their moneys worth.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

Slacker007

Mike Hankey wrote:

Why is it that we as programmers hate to document?

I wonder if there is a correlation between the dislike for wanting to write documentation and writing research papers. I don't care for writing documentation and I never cared much for writing research papers in college. I had to do it, but I didn't like it. Thus, my hypothesis is, if you like writing in general, you will not mind writing documentation. :-D

Member 10707677

When I first started in the industry, the standard was that documentation was to be completed before the first line of code. Some refer to that method as the waterfall method. Today, you seldom see documentation; or, what little there is seldom reflects the product for which it is written. As a basic rule of thumb, write your documentation for an eight-year-old. (I used to have my daughter do the final edit of my documentation until she was eleven.)

Oshtri Deka

Tragic and true.

Mislim, dakle jeo sam.

Lost User

Early on I spent a great deal of time on documentation only to have it never referenced. I don't mind doing training materials because they are used, but developer docs are a waste of time because devs don't look at it.

PhilLenoir

I've noticed that Mike. ;P

Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.

PhilLenoir

The Documentors - weren't that nasties in Harry Potter?

Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.

PhilLenoir

Quote:

kick the can, distance spitting

Ow! you got me TWICE

Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.

Sander Rossel

Almost :laugh:

My blog[^]

public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}