Markdown Introduction

We have standardized on markdown files for programmer guide documentation. The goal is to combine the programmer guide documentation (extracted from markdown source) with reference documentation (extracted from JavaDoc-style source code comments) to produce the final documentation set as a static HTML web site.

There are tons of cheatsheets for markdown, and wide support for the format in source code editors (including VS Code).

Note: If you are editing Markdown in VS Code, please install the Markdown Lint and the Spell Checker extensions.

You may also find the Markdown Preview Enhanced extension helpful.

Examples of the markdown syntax are below...

Heading

Sub-heading

Another deeper heading

Paragraphs are separated by a blank line.

Text attributes: italic, italic, bold, bold, monospace, strikethrough.

Use 3 hyphens for a horizontal rule:

Bullet list

- apples
- oranges
- pears
  - subList
  - subList

• apples
• oranges
• pears
  • subList
  • subList

Numbered list

  1. apples
     - subList
     - subList
  1. oranges
  1. pears

1. apples
   • subList
   • subList
2. oranges
3. pears

Notes

> Note: this is an example note.

Note: this is an example note.

HTTP Links

A [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown)

A link

Images

An image: ![alternate text](logo.png "tooltip text")

An image:

Source Code

Use backticks for inline source code: public static myPublicStaticMethod(x: number): Promise<string>

Use 3 backticks plus ts for source code blocks.

/** My public static method */
public static myPublicStaticMethod(x: number): Promise<string> {
  if (0 === x)
    return Promise.reject(new Error("Invalid parameter"));

  // Rest of implementation removed...
}

Tables

Tables are created by adding pipes as dividers between each cell, and by adding a line of dashes (also separated by bars) beneath the header. Note that the pipes do not need to be vertically aligned.

Option|Description
---|---
data |path to data files that will be passed into templates.
engine |engine to be used for processing templates.
ext|extension to be used for destination files.

leftnav.md Files

A file in the root directory of every section of the website called leftNav.md creates the navigation pane on the left side of all web pages for that section.

Ignoring a markdown file

There are cases when a markdown file should not end up in the final site. For example, a file that is under construction, a feature that has not been turned on, or a readme markdown file. In these cases a file can be ignored by adding an ignore tag to the frontmatter:

---
ignore: true
---

The markdown will not be processed and will not be present in the final output.

LaTex-like syntax

We have implemented a math typesetting library with a syntax similar to LaTex, called KaTex. To insert an equation, add a source code snippet with the language math or equation.

f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty
    \hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}
    \,d\xi

Results in

$f(x) = \int_{-\infty}^\infty
    \hat f(\xi)\,e^{2 \pi i \xi x}
    \,d\xi$

KaTex options

KaTex options can be customized by editing the katexOptions entry in docs/config/docSites.json. For example, a KaTex macro can be defined in macros:

  "\\rowXYZ": "{\\begin{bmatrix} #1 & #2 & #3\\end{bmatrix}}"

Then

  \rowXYZ{x}{y}{z}

Results in

$\rowXYZ{x}{y}{z}$

Last Updated: 02 February, 2022