Comment by amelius
4 days ago
I've said this a few times on HN: why don't we use LLMs to generate documentation? But then came the naysayers ...
4 days ago
I've said this a few times on HN: why don't we use LLMs to generate documentation? But then came the naysayers ...
Useful documentation explains why the code does what it does. Ie. why is this code there?
An LLM can't magically figure out your motivation behind doing something a certain way.
Tell it the why of the API and ask it to write individual function and class docs then.
Are you implying that only the creator of the code can write documentation?
No, they're saying that LLMs (and really, most other humans) can't really write the best documentation.
Frankly, most documentation is useless fluff. LLMs will be able to write a ton of that for sure :-)
Because you can't. See my previous comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43748908
Alternatively, document your code.
Id have bought a lot of lunches for myself if I had a dollar for every time I’ve pushed my team for documentation and had it turn into a discussion of “Well, how does that stack up against other priorities?”
It’s a pretty foolproof way for smart political operators to get out of a relatively dreary - but high leverage - task.
AI doesn’t complain. It just writes it. Makes the whole task a lot faster when a human is a reviewer for correctness instead of an author and reviewer.