Rules/guidelines for documenting C# code? [closed]

Question

I am a relatively new developer and have been assigned the task of documenting code written by an advanced C# developer. My boss told me to look through it, and to document it so that it would be easier to modify and update as needed.

My question is: Is there a standard type of Documentation/Comment structure I should follow? My boss made it sound like everyone knew exactly how to document the code to a certain standard so that anyone could understand it.

I am also curious if anyone has a good method for figuring out unfamiliar code or function uncertainty. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The standard seems to be XML Doc (MSDN Technet article here).

You can use /// at the beginning of each line of documentation comments. There are standard XML style elements for documenting your code; each should follow the standard <element>Content</element> usage. Here are some of the elements:

<c>               Used to differentiate code font from normal text                      <c>class Foo</c> <code> <example> <exception> <para>            Used to control formatting of documentation output.                      <para>The <c>Foo</c> class...</para> <param> <paramref>        Used to refer to a previously described <param>                       If <paramref name="myFoo" /> is <c>null</c> the method will... <remarks> <returns> <see>             Creates a cross-ref to another topic.                       The <see cref="System.String" /><paramref name="someString"/>                      represents...  <summary>         A description (summary) of the code you're documenting.