6.0 Introduction

What is DocOps, anyway?

DevOps (Dev + Ops) is a set of practices that combines software development and IT operations. The goal of DevOps is to automate and streamline the entire software delivery process, from development to deployment, and to improve collaboration between developers and operations teams.

Note

DocOps (Documentation + DevOps) is a subset of DevOps that focuses on the documentation aspect of software delivery. It is the practice of creating and maintaining documentation in a collaborative and automated manner, alongside the development and deployment of software.

The goal of DocOps is to ensure that documentation is accurate, up-to-date, and easily accessible for all stakeholders, including developers, operations teams, and end-users. This helps to reduce the risk of errors and inconsistencies and to improve the overall quality of software delivery.

DocOps practices typically include the following:

  1. Automated documentation generation: Use tools like Swagger or Postman to generate API documentation automatically, based on the code and test cases.

  2. Collaborative documentation: Use a shared platform, such as Confluence or Google Docs, to allow developers and operations teams to collaborate on documentation in real-time.

  3. Continuous integration and deployment of documentation: Use CI/CD pipelines to automatically deploy and publish documentation changes with each software release.

  4. Version control for documentation: Use version control systems, such as Git, to track and manage changes to documentation over time.

Overall, DocOps helps to ensure that documentation is an integral part of the software delivery process and that it is treated with the same level of importance as the code and other artifacts. This can lead to improved collaboration, better documentation quality, and faster and more reliable software delivery.

We can define DocOps as:

Note

A set of practices that works to automate and integrate the process of developing documentation across engineering, product, support, and, of course, technical writing teams.

RestructuredText (reST) and Markdown are both lightweight markup languages that are used to format plain text documents for easy readability. Both are popular for documentation and for creating content for the web.

Here are some key differences between reST and Markdown:

  1. Syntax: reST has a more complex syntax than Markdown, with a greater emphasis on structure and the ability to create complex tables, lists, and definitions. Markdown, on the other hand, has a simpler syntax, with a focus on readability and ease of use.

  2. Extendibility: reST is designed to be more extensible than Markdown, with support for custom directives, roles, and domain-specific syntax. Markdown, on the other hand, is limited in its extendibility and often relies on external tools and libraries to add additional functionality.

  3. Output Formats: reST can be used to generate a variety of output formats, including HTML, PDF, LaTeX, and plain text. Markdown, while primarily designed for HTML output, can also be used to generate other formats, but typically requires additional tools to do so.

  4. Community: Markdown has a larger and more active community than reST, with many more tools and resources available for it. reST is used primarily in the Python community and for technical documentation.

Ultimately, the choice between reST and Markdown will depend on your specific needs and preferences. If you need to create complex documents with a focus on structure and extensibility, reST may be a better choice. If you want a simple and easily readable markup language, Markdown may be a better option.