Development Documentation

In addition to version control (which we've got) and bug tracking, which of course we're making, the third most common tool used when developing large projects is some sort of easy to maintain documentation system - usually a wiki.  Therefore I have decided to set up a wiki to maintain a high level overview of the development of Abundant.  I think this would be a very good idea for all of our projects, as maintaining documentation as we develop our code will help improve the quality of our work.

I have decided to use TiddlyWiki for Abundant.  There are several reasons:

• Easy to set up
  The entire wiki consists of one HTML file and one JAR, there is no installation or system requirements.  Furthermore, setup and configuration is a breeze, with less than half an hour's work I had customized my TiddlyWiki to a desirable structure for software development.
• Compatible with version control
  The wiki is tracked by Mercurial and located right next to the source code.  This means this documentation always goes with the code, and tracking and merging changes works just like any other file.
• Lightweight bug tracker
  Although Abundant has far loftier goals than TiddlyWiki can ultimately fulfill, it will make a perfectly suitable issue tracker until Abundant is ready for dogfooding.  Similarly, this is one of the biggest reasons I think others should look into using TiddlyWiki or some other documentation tool, as it will provide for some very nice issue tracking as they develop their project.

Additionally, since TiddlyWiki is just an HTML file, you can view and browse it straight from the source code.  If you are interested in playing with TiddlyWiki as a development documenter, you may like to download the first version of the wiki which is structured with development in mind and an issue tracker page created.

Note: Presently, the links to the Abundant repository are password protected.  Anyone reading this blog is welcome to come talk to me and I'll tell you the password, but otherwise it will be publicly accessible soon enough.