What are the most effective documentation practices for programming languages?

In my opinion there is no specific perfect for all . But W3school are basically suitable to strarting any programming languages. I am from javascript background then I suggest following documentation. - jsinfo - W3school - Namaste Javascript medium articles.

The code architecture has to be able to self-explain what a given function is doing and how it works. However, comments contribute greatly to a better understanding of the code, especially when there are many interconnected external sources.

Documentation is important, but code writing is more critical. No matter how much documentation you provide, updating code written by someone else will always be a challenge. In my opinion, a team should follow the same code-writing practices and standardize functions and libraries. By using such practices, documentation can be much more efficient.

API documentation is one of the best approaches to have a clear and organized solution. It helps developers, clients, and everyone who needs to consume API services to understand its behavior. Normally for .Net APIs, I use Swagger for that.

What I find most challenging about user manuals is not the creation of them or even the physical media, but rather the continuous updating of these manuals. It is inevitable that systems will evolve over time, especially legacy systems. Focus should be placed on market standards, following successful case-by-case interface standards that facilitate the recognition of features, reducing the need for manuals. In most cases, manuals are used only during the first contact. Video manuals are more appealing to me than written manuals. In my experience, manuals work better this way.

This topic is difficult to discuss today. In one sense, we have complex applications that require a lot of planning ahead of time. In contrast, we have more appropriate applications for Agile and design thinking that can be solved in just one week. Not only are standards and tools important, but also the most appropriate methodologies for each case.

From my perspective this would be the most important step. Without proper review process in place nothing would really matter as it will never answer the question whether the code has been properly reviewed and agreed on. In my experience the collaborative review process works best and there are plenty of tools available to choose from such as GitHub.

From the perspective of a developer with over 30 years experience, writing code is like writing poetry. The practice of showing all your talent in your code is very common, despite what many may think. However, the team is not just made up of stars. The code can be reviewed and simplified as much as possible to prevent future costs. Code that is legible and easy to understand is very beneficial for the entire team and costs the company less when replacing professionals.

It is possible for documentation to become a luxury item in some cases. Creating and updating documentation for case studies involving huge systems with a certain degree of collaboration requires almost a team. However, when it comes to small systems, especially those using Agile methodologies, everything is perfectly suited to the most well-known standard approaches.