Hacker News Reader

Does anyone think of Documentation as a feature? When documentation - which is typically not the most fun bit of a project - has to be fought for by the developers, to have any more than the most basic hand-wavy guide to what's going on can seem an unnecessary luxury...or so management may think!

But then do I make it a point to make sure my code IS well documented? Maybe another resolution for this year..!

View on HN

If your opinion do you see management not wanting documentation? I have generally seen the exact opposite to happen (the managers want documentation, the developers think it is a waste of time).

But, to your point, I would not consider documentation a feature, just like I would not consider making a commit a feature, or talking to other developers as a feature. I think that some form of documentation is necessary (or you will regret it).

The hard question (in my opinion) is what should the documentation contain... I believe that answer involves getting the opinion of a coworker, to get a sense of what is-not/can-not be well explained in the code.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com