Sources: Ángel Cereijo and GeeksForGeeks
Writing documentation for your project can be tedious and boring. Say you just finished your project, you published it, and you’re excited to see people use it… but they don’t know how. You need documentation to explain your project.
Software documentation is the writing that goes along with your project, ranging from what your program does, how you plan to build the program, or any notes you may have for your team. There are four types of documentation: requirement, architectural, technical, and end-user. Requirement documentation explains the requirements for the program and how it should perform. Architectural documentation explains how the program should be structured and how processes should work with each other. Technical documentation explains the technical parts of the program, like the API and algorithms. End-user documentation explains how the software works for the user.
Good documentation should be created throughout the development process. Saving it all until the end will burn you out and set you back. To prevent this, progress the documentation as you build the project. Split your project into smaller pieces, like how it is done in an Agile setting, and improve the documentation as new features are developed.
Documentation should explain the purpose of the project as well. It should set up a problem that your program solves and why it is useful to solve the problem. Communicate with your team on how the problem is going to be solved and a plan to get there. Then, split the project up into tasks and assign them to the team members. Explain in detail any information needed for each task. Having the research and plan in writing makes it so anyone can complete the task at any time. As tasks are completed, update the documentation to the project before calling it completed.
Having explanatory documentation also ensures that tests can be written easily, even without the actual code that is being tested. Then, as you write the code for that task, the tests are already completed and you can move on.
As your team progresses through the project, your initial plan and process will probably change. With new resources and findings, the initial documentation needs to be updated as well.
Once your project is published, your documentation is there to help the users easily use your program. It needs to be written in simple language for any reader and avoid ambiguity/unneeded repetition.
Writing documentation is necessary for every project, helping to communicate with your development team and to serve as a guide to the users. It is important to write good documentation and keep in mind how other people will use it. Having the basics down of writing good documentation will help me in the future and give me a step up as a new software developer.
From the blog ALIDA NORDQUIST by alidanordquist and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.
