The Mx documentation tool has been developed to
improve the quality of program documentation. In
particular, all program modules are written as if
they form part of a final, completely documented
system. Using a text formatter enables the
programmer to express more clearly the program
properties. The result is a more readable
document where the actual program code plays the
role of an illustration of the more global system
objectives and design boundaries. The programmer
works with Mx files rather than program source
files and uses special Mx-directives to separate
code sections from documentation sections. The
overhead involved in writing a program as an
Mx-document is minimal. Likewise, the overhead
incurred on the edit-compile-debug cycle is
minimal. Using Mx during the whole software
development cycle leads to a product where the
documentation is in sink with the program itself.
Moreover, the physical adjacency of documentation
containing rationale and assumptions stimulates
the delivery of better quality code as
discrepancies in design and coding are more
easily recognized.
