The usage documentation describes how a particular part of the software works. This documentation can describe low-level parts, such as how a function works, but also high-level parts, such as command-line arguments for calling the program. This is the most important part of documentation in framework applications, since the target readership is mainly the developers that are going to reuse the code.
The three main kinds of documents are as follows:
- Recipe: This is a short document that explains how to do something. This kind of document targets one readership and focuses on one specific topic.
- Tutorial: This is a step-by-step document that explains how to use a feature of the software. This document can refer to recipes, and each instance is intended for one readership.
- Module helper: This is a low-level document that explains what a module contains. This document can be shown (for instance) by calling the help built into over a module.