How to use the command "yard" (with examples)

Description: The yard command is a documentation tool for Ruby. It allows you to generate documentation for your Ruby codebase. With yard, you can easily create documentation, save it to one file, and list all undocumented objects.

Use case 1: Create the documentation

Code:

yard

Motivation: When you have a Ruby codebase with numerous classes, modules, and methods, it is crucial to document your code properly. Documentation helps improve code readability, facilitates collaboration, and makes it easier for others to understand and use your code. By using the yard command, you can automatically generate documentation for your Ruby codebase.

Explanation:

• yard: This is the command itself. When you run yard without any additional arguments, it will generate documentation for all of your Ruby files.

Example output: The yard command will analyze your Ruby codebase and generate HTML documentation based on the comments and annotations in your code. It will create a set of HTML files that represent the documentation for your codebase. You can then open the generated HTML files in a browser to view the documentation.

Use case 2: Create the documentation and save it to one file

Code:

yard --one-file

Motivation: Having documentation in a single file can be convenient for various reasons. It allows for easier distribution, easier navigation, and simplifies the process of integrating documentation with other tools. By using the --one-file option with the yard command, you can generate documentation and save it to a single file.

Explanation:

• yard: This is the command itself.
• --one-file: This option tells the yard command to generate documentation and save it to a single file instead of multiple HTML files. The documentation will be saved in the default output format, which is HTML.

Example output: The yard command will analyze your Ruby codebase and generate a single HTML file that contains all the generated documentation. This file can be easily shared, distributed, or integrated into other systems.

Use case 3: List all undocumented objects

Code:

yard stats --list-undoc

Motivation: It is important to ensure that all the objects in your Ruby codebase have proper documentation. Undocumented objects can make it difficult for others to understand and use your code. By using the yard stats --list-undoc command, you can easily identify all the undocumented objects in your codebase and take appropriate action to document them.

Explanation:

• yard stats: This is a subcommand of the yard command that provides various statistics about your codebase.
• --list-undoc: This option tells the yard stats command to list all the undocumented objects in your codebase.

Example output: The yard stats --list-undoc command will scan your Ruby codebase and display a list of all the undocumented objects. This list will include classes, modules, and methods that do not have any associated documentation. By reviewing this list, you can easily identify the undocumented objects and update the documentation accordingly.

Conclusion:

In this article, we explored three different use cases of the yard command, a documentation tool for Ruby. We learned how to create documentation, save it to one file, and list all undocumented objects in our Ruby codebase. By leveraging the power of the yard command, we can improve code readability, facilitate collaboration, and make it easier for others to understand and use our Ruby code.