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Michael Banner's avatar

I’m not a React developer but I have used it a little bit in projects. I agree with you choosing them as a primary example of good documentation that strikes a balance between being an entire guide and a go-to reference.

I’ve found Terraform’s documentation to be equally as good. They have a clear distinction between learning path material that references the main documentation, and they both complement each other very well.

One thing that makes the likes of React and Terraform stand out is that their documentation (aside from the actual library) is their product. Without good documentation their product doesn’t stand a chance of being successful, so it shows that it pays to nail it. Internal documentation should aim to be as equally polished in my opinion.

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Daniel Idaszak's avatar

Yes, internal software documentation is often an afterthought, leaving developers to reverse-engineer their colleagues’ work. We should take inspiration from best practices in user-facing documentation to improve collaboration and efficiency.

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Michael Banner's avatar

Yep absolutely. I don’t have stats to back it up, but when I’ve worked for companies with solid documentation I’ve definitely seen and felt a difference to those that don’t.

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Iulia Puiu's avatar

I love React docs. If every documentation would be like that, our jobs as developers would be a ton easier.

Great article, looking forward to more of your content. 👏

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Daniel Idaszak's avatar

Yes, it's packed with great examples that we can use to enhance documentation, even in our internal software projects. This would improve both collaboration and communication.

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