An Empirical Study on README contents for JavaScript Packages

TL;DR

This study analyzes 43,900 JavaScript package README files to identify common content themes and differences between application-specific and library-based packages, providing insights into best practices for documentation.

Contribution

It offers the first large-scale empirical analysis of README contents for JavaScript packages, revealing common themes and distinctions based on package type.

Findings

Common themes include usage, install, and license.

Application-specific packages often include options.

Library packages frequently include install and license information.

Abstract

Contemporary software projects often utilize a README.md to share crucial information such as installation and usage examples related to their software. Furthermore, these files serve as an important source of updated and useful documentation for developers and prospective users of the software. Nonetheless, both novice and seasoned developers are sometimes unsure of what is required for a good README file. To understand the contents of a README, we investigate the contents of 43,900 JavaScript packages. Results show that these packages contain common content themes (i.e., usage, install and license). Furthermore, we find that application-specific packages more frequently included content themes such as options, while library-based packages more frequently included other specific content themes (i.e., install and license).