~/talk

Technically speaking improve your code documentation

Talkat DevFest Lille 2022 · on Friday, 2022-06-10· [documentation, developer-experience]
slides:none on file

Argues that writing docs while coding reduces support questions and speeds onboarding, citing work on Google Chrome and the Privacy Sandbox and a Google Publisher Tag example where precise code comments prevent breaking ad slots; recommends a clear README, step-by-step guides, release notes and templates; gives a 2015 WordPress bingo plugin anecdote (users asked for help in 2019) to show missing docs cost time; prescribes writing for past/future self, spelling acronyms, using exact measurements and prioritizing audience.

AI-written summary · about

  1. 0:00Start
  2. 0:32What we'll cover
  3. 7:58Hamlet
  4. 18:58Past you
  5. 20:10Future you
  6. 24:55Best practices
  7. 25:55Write while you code
  8. 26:56Add context
  9. 28:44Bad comments
  10. 29:03Better comments
  11. 30:27What's in a README?
  12. 32:08Bad instructions
  13. 34:00Bad release note
  14. 35:49Better release notes...
  15. 38:00Ask (and answer) questions
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