RE: Has anyone used tool for extracting comments from code?

[Matthew Horn <mhorn -at- macromedia -dot- com>]

Paresh said:
>>I searched the web and experimenting with the trial versions. 

Can you tell me what tools you tried? Honestly, when I first read your email, I was going to suggest JavaDocs (for Java classes) or ASDoc for ActionScript files), but you mentioned you need the same tool that works for "many" programming languages...

So this leads me to wonder why you would want such a thing. Getting comments out of code is like getting individual words out of the dictionary. They are meaningless without the context. 

Here's an example of all the comments from the last class file I wrote:

//imports
//use default constructor
//loop start
//shoudl try to optimize at some point
//end loop
// was: a.toString(x);

Not very meaningful, is it? So what are you trying to accomplish? Did you mean for object oriented languages only, where a comment-extractor utility could conceivably work with multiple languages and produce method, object property, and other types of summaries?

Matthew J. Horn
Sr. Technical Writer
< m a c r o m e d i a >


-----Original Message-----
From: Paresh, Naik (IE10)
To: TECHWR-L
Sent: 3/8/2003 2:43 AM
Subject: Has anyone used tool for extracting comments from code?


Dear all,

I am required to select a tool for extracting comments from 
code for reference/design documentation. The requirement is, 
it should work and preferably work the same way, for many programming
languages.

I searched the web and experimenting with the trial versions. 

Has anyone out there used such tools? 
Any experience, comments to share?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Order RoboHelp Office X3 by March 14 and receive a $100 mail-in rebate,
plus FREE WebHelp Merge Module and FREE iMarkup Software, for a
total giveaway value of $439! Order today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

   Help celebrate TECHWR-L's 10th Anniversary starting this month!
Check out the contests at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/special/contests/
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday TECHWR-L....

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.