Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#1

Post by lucasjanon » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 4:23 PM UTC

I'm currently working on documenting a product for developers, I'm used to read lots of public dev docs, but it's my first time writing them.

I'd like to get some inspiration, could be favorite developer docs, but also resources on how to make them great.

Examples:

Stripe (https://stripe.com/docs): probably the canonical example for dev docs, well written, well structured, sweet spot between code examples and explanatory text (e.g. https://stripe.com/docs/billing/quickstart).

Tailscale (https://tailscale.com/kb/): well written, well structured, lots of how-to guides.

Docusaurus showcase (https://docusaurus.io/showcase): aggregation of docs, some of them are great, some are not. All of them are open source so it's a useful resource for inspiration.

Also, not a doc itself but a great tool to build docs: https://codehike.org/

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#2

Post by kosasbest » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 4:27 PM UTC

Invaluable:

https://devdocs.io/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#3

Post by Grimburger » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 4:51 PM UTC

kosasbest wrote: post #2

Invaluable: https://devdocs.io/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

I have used devdocs with no internet access on planes for years now.

Whoever runs it deserves some sort of medal. Such a valuable resource.

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#4

Post by iaabtpbtpnn » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC

Postgres docs are really good.

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#5

Post by rohitag13 » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:12 PM UTC

FastAPI docs are quite comprehensive.

https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#6

Post by quantumwoke » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:13 PM UTC

Is it just me or are the Stripe docs not the paragon of usefulness they once were? Still head and shoulders above many but last time I started a new project I found duplicated, outdated, confusing docs all over the place. Managing the complex payments state machine seems to get harder and harder as Stripe matures.

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#7

Post by lucasjanon » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:13 PM UTC

kosasbest wrote: post #2

Invaluable: https://devdocs.io/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/

devdocs is great, didn't know it, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#8

Post by Thursday24 » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:23 PM UTC

In my experience, Django docs are on a totally different level:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#9

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:33 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Which are your favorite developer docs?

#10

Post by raphaelj » Mon, Jun 06, 2022, 5:34 PM UTC

quantumwoke wrote: post #6

Is it just me or are the Stripe docs not the paragon of usefulness they once were? Still head and shoulders above many but last time I started a new project I found duplicated, outdated, confusing docs all over the place. Managing the complex payments state machine seems to get harder and harder as Stripe matures.

I had the same impression the last time I had to look at them.

Basic payment processing feature are still well documented, but once you get into their Connect or subscription stuff, it gets a little messy.