Doxygen

Doxygen is a documentation generator, a tool used for writing software documentation from annotated source code. It is one of the most popular tools of its kind and is particularly prevalent in [[C++]], [[C]], and [[CSharp|C#]] development, although it supports other programming languages like [[Java]], [[Objective-C]], [[Python]], [[PHP]], and more.

Doxygen extracts documentation from source code comments. The comments are often written in a structured format that Doxygen understands, allowing it to generate well-formatted and organized documentation. While primarily used for C-like languages, Doxygen also supports other languages, making it versatile for multi-language projects.

Doxygen can produce documentation in several formats, including [[HTML]], [[LaTeX]] (for printable PDFs), man pages, [[RTF]], and [[Extensible Markup Language|XML]]. It can generate class diagrams, inheritance diagrams, collaboration diagrams, and call graphs using Graphviz software.

Doxygen provides functionalities to create cross-references in the documentation, making navigation easier. It can be configured to work with version control systems, ensuring that the documentation is always in sync with the source code.

In a C++ project, a developer might annotate a class like this:

/**
 * @brief A brief description of the MyClass class.
 *
 * Detailed description of MyClass.
 */
class MyClass {
public:
    /**
     * @brief A brief description of the myMethod method.
     * @param param1 Description of the first parameter.
     * @return Description of the return value.
     */
    int myMethod(int param1);
};

Doxygen would process these comments to generate comprehensive documentation for the MyClass class and its myMethod method, including descriptions of the method's purpose, its parameters, and its return value.

Doxygen is typically run from the command line, where it reads a configuration file (Doxyfile) that specifies how the documentation should be generated. Users can customize a wide range of settings in the Doxyfile to tailor the output to their specific needs.