Not just documenting code (I'm using Javadocs already), but documentation of the algorithms and creating a manual of some sort.
Do people just use Word? What programs or frameworks are available, especially for different ways to document algorithms, etc?
I'm a big fan of Vim.
Or if you want to get hardcore, you can use troff or LaTeX.
Any of the TeX variations. I like generating nice PDF documents to distribute, so I find LaTeX (or any other TeX distribution) to be perfect for that.
I'm a big fan of reStructuredText. It integrates most closely with Python but it's fine for anything, it's nicely readable as plain text, it produces decent documents -- potentially very nice documents with some CSS magic -- and it works pretty well anywhere.
I use the same text editor I normally use (because I'm used to its shortcuts, and it has autocompletion). If I'm at work, I'll then cut and paste into Word to make it fit with company documentation templates. If not, I'll just leave it as a text file/wiki page.
I'm using Word but i'm not happy with it. Hopefully this question will shine some light on the alternatives.
I use POD (and therefore notepad) for documentation. It's very convenient for Perl developers, anyway.
We use a wiki (currently MoinMoin). For high-level or key design elements we often do UML diagrams. I prefer StarUML for this.
For proposals, specifications, design docs etc. I use Open Office. For end-user documentation, such as help files, I use Help & Manual, but am currently thinking of switching to an Open Doc solution.
I'm using Doc-O-Matic. It allows me to use all my JavaDoc (or in my case DelphiDoc) comments and write my own chapters as complement. I can also generate help files (html and win32), word documents, pdf right from one source.
MS Word - If you can train yourself to slavishly use styles (and be sure to create your own custom styles, don't just rely on those that come with the product) you'll find that you can quickly generate documentation that is both well structured, well formatted, and useful. Add a print to PDF utility like PrimoPDF and you can easily generate documentation to distribute.
I just use doxygen.
It's great for c++ :)
It also supports many other languages and features.
I hope it's helpful :)
++ to JadeMason
Use Word.
I come from an instructional design background, so this might be overkill. You might want to take a look at the Adobe Technical Communications Suite.
If you're on a budget, I agree with those who have already mentioned Open Office as an alternative.
This is a little off topic, but, as an EDI specialist, I also use and am pleased with Edifecs SpecBuilder for creating documentation. If anyone here is or plans to be involved in electronic data interchange, it is definitely worth looking at.
Wiki.
Often they have revision control, search capability, open for anyone to correct and a single online storage.
Wiki, definitely.
By the way, the best documentation is the one you don’t write. Don’t write documentation that no one reads.
After saying goodbye to Word and Sharepoint and switching to Wiki, most of the folks on the team used the word “liberated”.
If your sales dept. or else need some fancy docs, there is a way to export wiki to pdf. (I didn’t try this myself mind you.).