Documentation generator

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 specially commented source code files, and in some cases, binary files.

Document generation can be divided in several type of documents:

• Batch documents (all automated documents)
• Interactive documents (documents that can not be produced automatically)
• Text block correspondence (documents created based on pre-defined text blocks)
• Forms (forms for websites)

You can place every type of document you come across in one of these categories. A lot of software solutions are offered on the Internet that can automate these processes. In particular, some integrated development environments provide interactive access to documentation, code metadata, etc.

See also

• Comparison of documentation generators
• Template processor
• Static code analysis
• Literate programming
• Integrated development environment