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Program Documentation - Tutorialspoint

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Program Documentation - Tutorialspoint

Uploaded by

Mc Gemrick Santos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6/30/2021 Program Documentation - Tutorialspoint

Program Documentation

Any written text, illustrations or video that describe a software or program to its users is called
program or software document. User can be anyone from a programmer, system analyst and
administrator to end user. At various stages of development multiple documents may be created for
different users. In fact, software documentation is a critical process in the overall software
development process.
In modular programming documentation becomes even more important because different modules
of the software are developed by different teams. If anyone other than the development team wants
to or needs to understand a module, good and detailed documentation will make the task easier.
These are some guidelines for creating the documents −
Documentation should be from the point of view of the reader
Document should be unambiguous

There should be no repetition


Industry standards should be used
Documents should always be updated

Any outdated document should be phased out after due recording of the phase out

Advantages of Documentation
These are some of the advantages of providing program documentation −
Keeps track of all parts of a software or program
Maintenance is easier
Programmers other than the developer can understand all aspects of software
Improves overall quality of the software
Assists in user training
Ensures knowledge de-centralization, cutting costs and effort if people leave the system
abruptly

Example Documents

A software can have many types of documents associated with it. Some of the important ones
include −

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6/30/2021 Program Documentation - Tutorialspoint

User manual − It describes instructions and procedures for end users to use the different
features of the software.
Operational manual − It lists and describes all the operations being carried out and their
inter-dependencies.
Design Document − It gives an overview of the software and describes design elements
in detail. It documents details like data flow diagrams, entity relationship diagrams, etc.
Requirements Document − It has a list of all the requirements of the system as well as an
analysis of viability of the requirements. It can have user cases, reallife scenarios, etc.
Technical Documentation − It is a documentation of actual programming components like
algorithms, flowcharts, program codes, functional modules, etc.
Testing Document − It records test plan, test cases, validation plan, verification plan, test
results, etc. Testing is one phase of software development that needs intensive
documentation.
List of Known Bugs − Every software has bugs or errors that cannot be removed
because either they were discovered very late or are harmless or will take more effort and
time than necessary to rectify. These bugs are listed with program documentation so that
they may be removed at a later date. Also they help the users, implementers and
maintenance people if the bug is activated.

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