API Documentation vs Informal Documentation

Developers should learn API documentation skills when building or consuming APIs, as it enables clear communication of API capabilities and requirements meets developers should use informal documentation to facilitate team collaboration, onboard new members, and document ad-hoc decisions or code rationale that don't fit into formal specs. Here's our take.

API Documentation

Nice Pick

Developers should learn API documentation skills when building or consuming APIs, as it enables clear communication of API capabilities and requirements

Pros

• It is crucial for public APIs to attract developers, internal APIs to facilitate team collaboration, and microservices architectures to ensure interoperability
• Related to: openapi-specification, rest-api

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Informal Documentation

Developers should use informal documentation to facilitate team collaboration, onboard new members, and document ad-hoc decisions or code rationale that don't fit into formal specs

Pros

• It's particularly valuable in agile environments, open-source projects, or when rapid iteration makes formal documentation impractical, as it reduces knowledge silos and improves code maintainability
• Related to: documentation-writing, code-comments

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. API Documentation is a concept while Informal Documentation is a methodology. We picked API Documentation based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

API Documentation wins

Based on overall popularity. API Documentation is more widely used, but Informal Documentation excels in its own space.