Software documentation generation with automated sample inclusion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9483261-B2
Application number	US-201414328133-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2014
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

Automated creation of augmented documentation fragments that are augmented with usage examples. A plurality of documentation fragments is stored, where each documentation fragment documents a software element and has at least one associated property. A corresponding source code software fragment that corresponds to at least one associated property of at least one software element is identified based on an automated software analysis process of source code within a source code repository and further based on a list of properties comprising each associated property of each software element within the plurality of software elements. An augmented documentation fragment that includes a selected documentation fragment and the at least one corresponding source code software fragment corresponding to at least one associated property of the selected documentation fragment is created in response to the identifying.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming documentation for a software element, the method comprising:
storing a plurality of documentation fragments, each documentation fragment within the plurality of documentation fragments documenting a respective software element within a plurality of software elements, each documentation fragment having at least one associated property associated with its respective software element;
analyzing, with an automated software analysis process based on preparing a selected documentation fragment from within the plurality of document fragments, the selected documentation fragment documenting a selected software element, source code within a source code repository to identify source code software fragments from within the source code repository, the at least one example source code fragment depicting, within the at least one example source code software fragment, a usage of the selected software element;
identifying, based on the analyzing, at least one example source code software fragment from within the source code software fragments based on a determination the at least one example source code software fragment corresponds to the at least one associated property of the selected documentation fragment; and
adding, based on the identifying, the at least one example source code software fragment to the selected documentation fragment to create an augmented documentation fragment that defines a presentation of the selected documentation fragment together with the at least one example source code software fragment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source code repository comprises source code associated with a software development project, and the method further comprising:
determining that the adding the at least one example source code software fragment to the selected documentation fragment to create the an augmented documentation fragment is in association with the software development project, and
wherein the identifying comprises analyzing, in response to determining that the adding is in association with the software development project, source code within the source code repository that is associated with the software development project.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, subsequent to creating the augmented documentation fragment, a subsequent set of example source code software fragments; and
creating, subsequent to creating the augmented documentation fragment, a subsequent augmented documentation fragment for the selected documentation fragment by adding the subsequent set of example source code software fragments to the selected document fragment.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the subsequent set of example source code software fragments differs from the at least one example source code software fragment, and
wherein the method further comprises including, within the subsequent augmented documentation fragment, an indication that the subsequent set of example source code software fragments differs from the at least one example source code software fragment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated software analysis process comprises identifying at least one redundant source code software fragment within the at least one example source code software fragment, and
wherein the identifying excludes the at least one redundant source code software fragment from the at least one example source code software fragments.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the automated software analysis process comprises determining a respective quality evaluation for each example source code software fragment, and
wherein the identifying the at least one example source code software fragment is based at least partly on the respective quality evaluation.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
including in the augmented documentation fragment, in association with each respective example source code software fragment, a respective indication reflecting the respective evaluation of the each respective example source code software fragment.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the respective quality evaluation comprises determining, through an automated quality evaluation process, a measure of compliance of the respective example source code software fragment with defined coding standards.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein determining the respective quality evaluation comprises:
identifying, based on automated analysis of software contained within the source code repository, consistent coding practices existing in the software within the within the source code repository; and
determining, subsequent to the identifying consistent coding practices, the respective quality evaluation for each respective example source code software fragment based upon correspondence between the respective example source code software fragment and the consistent coding practices.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the respective quality evaluation further comprises determining the consistent coding practices, wherein the determining the consistent coding practices comprises comparing a plurality of software fragments within the source code repository to identify coding practice similarities among software fragments within the source code repository.

11. A documentation fragment creator, comprising:
a documentation fragments storage configured to store a plurality of documentation fragments, each documentation fragment within the plurality of documentation fragments documenting a respective software element within a plurality of software elements, each documentation fragment having at least one associated property associated with its respective software element;
an automated software analysis processor, communicatively coupled to the documentation fragments storage and configured to:
analyze, with an automated software analysis process based on preparing a selected documentation fragment from within the plurality of document fragments, the selected documentation fragment documenting a selected software element, source code within a source code repository to identify source code software fragments from within the source code repository, the at least one example source code fragment depicting, within the at least one example source code software fragment, a usage of the selected software element; and

identify, based on an analysis of the source code within the source code repository, at least one example source code software fragment from within the source code software fragments based on a determination the at least one example source code software fragment corresponds to the at least one associated property of the selected documentation fragment; and
a documentation fragment creation processor configured to add, based on the automated software analysis processor identifying, the at least one example source code software fragment to the selected documentation fragment to create an augmented documentation fragment that defines a presentation of the selected documentation fragment together with the at least one example source code software fragment.

12. The documentation fragment creator of claim 11 , wherein the source code repository comprises source code associated with a software development project, and
wherein the documentation fragment creation processor is further configured to determine that the addition to create the augmented documentation fragment is in association with the software development project, and
wherein the automated software analysis processor is further configured to identify by analyzing, in response to a determination that the addition is associated with the software de

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Frenkiel Andrew Lawrence
• Priestly Michael

Classifications

• G06F8/30

  Creation or generation of source code · CPC title

• G06F8/73 Primary

  Program documentation · CPC title