Re: Automatically generating C/C++ function documentation

[Kippi Fagerlund <KippiFa -at- ATTACHMATE -dot- COM>]

Yes, it has been done. When I worked at Visix, we had a large cross-platform
API (~10,000 public functions) that we generated documentation for
in this way. However, we were also using TeX . . . .

We generated both C and C++ versions, and I think the gains in
technical accuracy greatly outweighed the other pains associated
with it. Send me mail privately if you're interested in more information.

Kippi

Kippi Fagerlund
kippi -at- eco -dot- twg -dot- com
Attachmate Corporation
McLean, Virginia

-----Original Message-----
From:   Dave Neufeld [SMTP:Dave_Neufeld -at- SPECTRUMSIGNAL -dot- COM]
Sent:   Monday, April 20, 1998 12:22 PM
To:     TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject:        Automatically generating C/C++ function documentation

Has anyone used or heard of utilities to generate documentation for
functions from C/C++ code?

Currently, we manually cut, paste, and format text from commented C/C++
".c" and ".h" files. into the function reference section of our
programming guides. This gives the basic structure (function, syntax,
parameters, return values, and remarks) to the documentation for the
function. We then go back and edit it. The initial cutting, pasting, and
formatting seems a trite bit repetitive, leading some of the developers
to think that it can be automated. There is even rumour that one of the
developers might work on this.

Has this been tried before? Are there utilities out there already to do
this? If anyone has used this approach, what was it like? What were the
productivity gains, or losses?

BTW If you're interested in working for us, please submit a resume.
We're looking for a few more writers.

David Neufeld
=======================================================================

Technical Publications
dave_neufeld -at- spectrumsignal -dot- com
http:\\www.spectrumsignal.com

   "no matter where you go.....  there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai