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Javadoc
Documentation generator for Java From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Javadoc (also capitalized as JavaDoc or javadoc) is an API documentation generator for the Java programming language. Based on information in Java source code, Javadoc generates documentation formatted as HTML and other formats via extensions.[1] Javadoc was created by Sun Microsystems and is owned by Oracle today.
 | This article contains instructions or advice. (August 2023) |
The content and formatting of a resulting document are controlled via special markup in source code comments. As this markup is de facto standard and ubiquitous for documenting Java code,[2] many IDEs extract and display the Javadoc information while viewing the source code; often via hover over an associated symbol. Some IDEs, like IntelliJ IDEA, NetBeans and Eclipse, support generating Javadoc template comment blocks.[3] The @tag syntax of Javadoc markup has been re-used by other documentation generators, including Doxygen, JSDoc, EDoc and HeaderDoc.
Javadoc supports extension via doclets and taglets, which allow for generating different output formats and for static analysis of a codebase. For example, JDiff reports changes between two versions of an API.
Although some criticize Javadoc and API document generators in general, one motivation for creating Javadoc was that more traditional (less automated) API documentation is often out-of-date or does not exist due to business constraints such as limited availability of technical writers.[4]
Javadoc has been part of Java since its first release, and is often updated with each release of the Java Development Kit.[5]
Javadoc and the source code comments used by Javadoc, do not affect the performance of a Java executable since comments are ignored by the compiler.
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Markup
Javadoc ignores comments unless they are specially marked. A Javadoc comment is marked with an extra asterisk after the start of a multi-line comment: /**. Following lines are presceded with an *, and the entire comment block should be terminated with a */.
An example of a method Javadoc comment follows:
/**
* Description of what the method does.
*
* @param input Description of parameter.
* @return Description of return value.
* @throws Exception Description of exception.
*/
public int methodName(String input) throws Exception { ... }
Some HTML tags, such as <p>, <head>, and <nav>, as supported in Javadoc.
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Markdown
From Java 23 onwards, Javadoc supports the Markdown standard CommonMark on comment lines that start with /// instead of the older multiline format.[6]
Doclets
A Doclet program works with Javadoc to select which content to include in the documentation, format the presentation of the content and create the file that contains the documentation.[7] A Doclet is written in Java and uses the Doclet API,
The StandardDoclet included with Javadoc generates API documentation as frame-based HTML files. Other Doclets are available on the web [citation needed], often for free. These can be used to:
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 | This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. The reason given is: Should be updated according to the official documentation. (November 2023) |
Some of the available Javadoc tags[8] are listed in the table below:
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See also
References
External links
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