# Documenting Python

Fred L. Drake, Jr.

Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI)
1895 Preston White Drive, Reston, Va 20191, USA
E-mail: fdrake@acm.org

April 13, 1999
Release 1.5.2

### Abstract:

The Python language documentation has a substantial body of documentation, much of it contributed by various authors. The markup used for the Python documentation is based on LATEX and requires a significant set of macros written specifically for documenting Python. Maintaining the documentation requires substantial effort, in part because selecting the correct markup to use is not always easy.

This document describes the document classes and special markup used in the Python documentation. Authors may use this guide, in conjunction with the template files provided with the distribution, to create or maintain whole documents or sections.

[Notes and questions in brackets, like this, are notes to myself while developing this document.]

- Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Directory Structure
- 3. LATEX Syntax Primer
- 4. Document Classes
- 5. Python-specific Markup
  - 5.1 Information Units
  - 5.2 Inline Markup
  - 5.3 Module-specific Markup
  - 5.4 Library-level Markup
  - 5.5 Table Markup
  - 5.6 Reference List Markup
  - 5.7 Index-generating Markup
- 6. Special Names
- 7. Processing Tools
  - 7.1 External Tools
  - 7.2 Internal Tools
- 8. Future Directions
  - 8.1 Structured Documentation
  - 8.2 Discussion Forums
- About this document ...