Software documentation
documentationonline documentationuser documentationdocumenting documentationarchitecture documentationCode documentationdocumentation of softwaredocumenting their codesoftware architecture documentation
Software documentation is written text or illustration that accompanies computer software or is embedded in the source code.wikipedia
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Software development
developmentdevelopedapplication development
It is used throughout development to communicate how the software functions or how it is intended to operate.
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components.

Software
Computer softwareSoftware & Programmingsoftware technology
Software documentation is written text or illustration that accompanies computer software or is embedded in the source code. Requirements documentation is the description of what a particular software does or shall do.
Computer software includes computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data, such as online documentation or digital media.

Software architecture description
architecture descriptiondescription
Architecture documentation (also known as software architecture description) is a special type of design document.
or software architecture documentation.
README
readme filereadme.txtRead Me
It is important for the code documents associated with the source code (which may include README files and API documentation) to be thorough, but not so verbose that it becomes overly time-consuming or difficult to maintain them.
A form of documentation, it is usually a simple plain text file called,, (for a text file using markdown markup), – or simply.

Documentation generator
documentation generationembedded documentation generatordocument generation
Often, tools such as Doxygen, NDoc, Visual Expert, Javadoc, EiffelStudio, Sandcastle, ROBODoc, POD, TwinText, or Universal Report can be used to auto-generate the code documents—that is, they extract the comments and software contracts, where available, from the source code and create reference manuals in such forms as text or HTML files.
A documentation generator is a programming tool that generates software documentation intended for programmers (API documentation) or end users (end-user guide), or both, from a set of source code files, and in some cases, binary files.
Sandcastle (software)
Sandcastle
Often, tools such as Doxygen, NDoc, Visual Expert, Javadoc, EiffelStudio, Sandcastle, ROBODoc, POD, TwinText, or Universal Report can be used to auto-generate the code documents—that is, they extract the comments and software contracts, where available, from the source code and create reference manuals in such forms as text or HTML files.
It can also be used to produce user documentation from Microsoft Assistance Markup Language (MAML) with the same look and feel as reference documentation.
Documentation
documenteddocumentingdocument

Visual Expert
Often, tools such as Doxygen, NDoc, Visual Expert, Javadoc, EiffelStudio, Sandcastle, ROBODoc, POD, TwinText, or Universal Report can be used to auto-generate the code documents—that is, they extract the comments and software contracts, where available, from the source code and create reference manuals in such forms as text or HTML files.
Programmer
software developercomputer programmerdeveloper
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
They do this by inserting comments in the source code so that others can understand the program more easily and by documenting their code.




API writer
Various how-to and overview documentation guides are commonly found specific to the software application or software product being documented by API writers.
Some common tools used by API writers include computer software that extracts software documentation placed by programmers in the source code in a structured manner, preserving the relationships between those comments and the programming constructs they document.
Design by contract
contractscontractdesign contract
Often, tools such as Doxygen, NDoc, Visual Expert, Javadoc, EiffelStudio, Sandcastle, ROBODoc, POD, TwinText, or Universal Report can be used to auto-generate the code documents—that is, they extract the comments and software contracts, where available, from the source code and create reference manuals in such forms as text or HTML files.
The contracts for a module can be regarded as a form of software documentation for the behavior of that module.
User analysis
User
Such analyses are vital to the composition of software documentation.
Software engineering
software engineersoftware engineerssoftware
Requirement
requirementscustomer requirementcustomer needs
Requirements documentation is the description of what a particular software does or shall do.
End user
end-userend-usersend users
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.



Customer
customersclientclientele
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
Project manager
project managersmanagerProject-Director
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.

Sales
salesmansaleseller
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
Marketing
marketermarketedmarketing campaign
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.




Software architect
Chief Software ArchitectChief Architectsoftware architects
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
Usability engineering
usability engineerusability engineers
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
Interaction design
interaction designerdigital designinteraction designers
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.
Software testing
beta testingtestingbeta
Requirements are produced and consumed by everyone involved in the production of software, including: end users, customers, project managers, sales, marketing, software architects, usability engineers, interaction designers, developers, and testers.


Natural language
linguisticnaturalnatural languages
They can be specified as statements in natural language, as drawn figures, as detailed mathematical formulas, and as a combination of them all.
Well-formed formula
formulamathematical formulaformulas
They can be specified as statements in natural language, as drawn figures, as detailed mathematical formulas, and as a combination of them all.