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Reusable Code

One of the most powerful tools at our disposal is Javadoc and proper documentation of code on the tree. When a developer can find a class they need quickly, read complete documentation on the use of that class, and pull it into their project with a simply checkout, they are far more likely to reuse that code.

Therefore, all developers are strongly encouraged to completely document all of their code, even the simplest classes. Further, developers are encouraged to always look on the tree for an existing class, before they create a new class. Javadoc goes a long way toward facilitating this process.

However, Javadoc is not a magic bullet. While I can read the javadocs and probably recognize the functionality of a package named 'com.ice.tar' and even know at a glance the purpose of the class 'TarArchive'. However, it is less likely that the casual browser will immediately recgonize the purpose of the class 'com.ice.cvsc.CVSNotifyItem'.

To help with the problem of finding functionality on the source tree, the GJT project intends to write a program to enhance the online javadoc documentation by categorizing functionality and providing search mechanisms.