Product Overview: NaturalDocs
What NaturalDocs Does
NaturalDocs is a comprehensive documentation tool designed to generate readable and organized documentation from source code written in a variety of programming languages. It supports documenting code in 21 different languages and can be easily extended to support additional languages, making it versatile for projects that involve multiple programming languages.
Key Features
Readable and Natural Comments
NaturalDocs is distinguished by its ability to use natural, readable comments within the source code. Unlike other documentation tools that require specific syntax or tags, NaturalDocs comments are designed to be as usable in the source code as they are in the generated documentation. This makes the code more readable and maintainable.
Automatic Documentation Generation
NaturalDocs automatically generates documentation from the comments in your source code. It can extract information such as function parameters, return types, and descriptions, and organize this information into a coherent and navigable format. For example, it automatically includes parameter types in the documentation if they are defined under a heading like “Parameters” or “Params”.
Multi-Language Support
NaturalDocs supports documentation for code written in multiple programming languages within the same project. This is particularly useful for projects that use several languages, as it integrates all the documentation into a single, cohesive set.
Customizable and Extensible
The tool allows for easy extension to support additional languages by adding entries to a Languages.txt file. This flexibility makes NaturalDocs adaptable to various development environments.
Advanced Documentation Interface
The generated documentation features a user-friendly interface with three independently scrolling panels, dynamic menus, search functionality, and pop-up summaries when hovering over links. This interface works seamlessly whether the documentation is hosted on a web server, a network share, or opened directly from a hard drive.
Visual Themes and Compatibility
NaturalDocs includes various visual themes, including dark and black themes, which can be chosen by the user or automatically switched based on the operating system’s light or dark mode settings. Additionally, it has improved compatibility with macOS, ensuring that SQLite binaries are signed and notarized to avoid system blocks.
Javadoc Compatibility
For languages with full support, NaturalDocs can also extract documentation from Javadoc comments, making it easier to migrate existing documentation to NaturalDocs.
Summaries and Grouping
NaturalDocs automatically generates summaries for every file, class, and section. It also allows manual grouping of topics to make summaries easier to navigate, enhancing the overall readability and organization of the documentation.
Conclusion
In summary, NaturalDocs is a powerful and flexible documentation tool that enhances code readability, automates documentation generation, and provides a user-friendly interface for navigating the generated documentation. Its support for multiple languages, customizable features, and advanced visual themes make it an ideal choice for a wide range of development projects.