Practical Java Programming for IoT, AI, and Blockchain

APPENDIX AJava Documentation and Archiving Tools and Online Resources

This appendix shows how to use the tools that Java provides for self-documenting and archiving your code, and it lists the most important online resources for learning about Java.

Javadoc Tutorial

Documentation is important in many science and engineering disciplines, so maintaining it becomes a familiar habit. For software, the situation is slightly different, as the software may be changing constantly. Creating documents after the software has been created and then modifying them every time the software is changed is inefficient and cumbersome. To solve this problem, the Java JDK provides a tool called javadoc, which allows users to generate Java code documentation in HTML format from Java source code using a predefined comment format.

Recall that in Java, you use // to create a single-line comment and /* */ for multiple-line comments.

//This is a single line comment
 
/*
This is a multiple 
line comment
*/

Once you've invoked the javadoc command, you can then use /** */ to create a Java document. In the following example, the comment placed at the beginning of the code creates a document for the Java program. The @author tag specifies the author of the program, the @version tag specifies the version, the @since tag specifies the date of the software, and the @see tag specifies the URL of the program.

/**
* The HelloWorld program implements an application that
* simply displays "Hello World!" to the ...