Methodology for Documenting Existing Code Base
Posted
by
George Stocker
on Programmers
See other posts from Programmers
or by George Stocker
Published on 2008-11-18T18:02:52Z
Indexed on
2011/01/30
23:32 UTC
Read the original article
Hit count: 300
language-agnostic
|documentation
I work as part of a team on an existing application that has no inline documentation, nor does it have technical documentation. As I've been working on various bug reports on the application, I've written a sort of breadcrumb trail for myself - bug numbers in various places so that the next developer can refer to that bug number to see what was going on. My question is thus:
What is the most effecient method for documenting this code? Should I document as I touch the area (the virus method, if you will), or should I document from each section on its own, and not follow paths that branch out into other areas of the application? Should I insert inline comments where none previously existed (with the fear that I may end up incorrectly identifying what the code does)?
What method would you use to accurately and quickly document a rather large application that has no existing inline documentation, nor inline references to external documentation?
© Programmers or respective owner