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While browsing the MSDN documentation for the .NET Framework Class Library (FCL) I've always been amazed by how consistent and fully documented it is. It's a constant companion when developing .NET applications. Most doubts that arise when using the APIs are covered. The contrast with e.g. the older Win32 documentation is striking.

Some examples:

  • Documentation for properties always starts out with either "Gets" or "Gets or sets" to specify accessors.
  • Type parameters start out with: "The type of ...".

Does Microsoft use a documentation convention which is followed for the FCL? If so, is this convention publicly available for me to use as well?

Dynamic
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Steven Jeuris
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1 Answers1

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Yes. There is a spec of sorts. That spec is built into StyleCop.

What it basically does is turn "style" errors (comments, code layout/formatting etc.) into build errors.

You can also include/exclude any rule that you like.

Steven Evers
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