Documenting Bioinformatics Software Via Reverse Engineering

TL;DR

This paper discusses a reverse engineering approach to documenting existing bioinformatics software, aiming to improve usability and community impact by addressing the common lack of documentation in research software.

Contribution

It introduces a method for documenting completed bioinformatics software through reverse engineering focused on end-user needs, which is a novel approach in this domain.

Findings

Reverse engineering can effectively generate documentation for existing software.

Documented bioinformatics tools are more accessible to multidisciplinary teams.

The approach enhances software adoption and community engagement.

Abstract

Documentation is one of the most neglected activities in Software Engineering, although it is an important method of assuring quality and understanding. Bioinformatics software is generally written by researchers from fields other than Computer Science who usually do not provide documentation. Documenting bioinformatics software may ease its adoption in multidisciplinary teams and expand its impact on the community. In this paper, we highlight how one can document software that is already finished, using reverse engineering and thinking of the end-user.