Documentation Assistant: An Intelligent System for Documentation

摘要

The purpose of this document is to describe a semi-automated system for the documentation of computer software; this system is called the Documentation Assistant (DA). To motivate this system, a general discussion of documentation issues and problems is interwoven with descriptions of how the DA would address many of these topics. A feasibility assessment and plan for this approach is presented. The Documentation Assistant project is a research effort at Advanced Information & Decision Systems. The purpose of this effort is to study advanced techniques which address one of the most pressing problems during the software life cycle: the process of documentation. Currently, the DA exists on paper only; one goal of the research effort is to develop a prototype version, which would be incorporated in the Intelligent Program Editor (another research prototype being developed at AI&DS under ONR sponsorship). (Author)