When do I use @see
when dealing with JavaDocs? What is its usage?
For example if MethodA
calls MethodB
then do I have to put @see
in MethodB
's javadoc and reference MethodA
because that is what called it, or do I have to put a reference to MethodB
from MethodA
because it's calling it. I've read the stuff about @see
on the Oracle website and it seems to me to be incredibly vague, it says it means "see also" but not really what that means!
Yeah, it is quite vague.
You should use it whenever for readers of the documentation of your method it may be useful to also look at some other method. If the documentation of your methodA says "Works like methodB but ...", then you surely should put a link.
An alternative to @see
would be the inline {@link ...}
tag:
/**
* ...
* Works like {@link #methodB}, but ...
*/
When the fact that methodA calls methodB is an implementation detail and there is no real relation from the outside, you don't need a link here.