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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10997
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

As a software developer (C#, .NET, yada, yada), Monica's answer resounded nicely with me. (I don't have enough rep yet to comment on it, so my additions have to go here.)

I would add that I find great value in API documentation that is as explicit as it can be, but not overburdened with meaningless details. Further, it's very important to me that the documentation tells me what the API is _supposed_ to do, not what it actually does. (Some will disagree with me about this; however, if the software doesn't do what the reference says it should be doing, that's a defect, requiring resolution.)

For example, if the return type of a method is List, will the method return null, or is it guaranteed to always return a non-null reference of zero or more items?

If a method takes a reference type, will it throw if the argument is null? If the argument is defined as out or ref, will it throw if the argument has not been initialized? If the argument is an array or list, will it throw if the sequence is empty? Does the method throw if a required configuration setting is missing or invalid? (If so, what configuration setting(s) does it depend on?)

These are things of immense value to a software developer. Having to track them down by wading through potentially hundreds of thousands of lines of code wastes time and money, and increases risk and the chance that I'll make a mistake.

Please, be as explicit as you can be, and no further.

Original score: 3