Documenting Python Code

Software documentation is usually treated as an afterthought, something we’ll “do later.” But later rarely comes. Yet every developer depends on documentation every day: in libraries, frameworks, and tools. So why do we so often skip it in our own projects?

This keynote takes a practical look at what good documentation means for Python code today. It covers the essential building blocks: docstrings, the Sphinx documentation generator, and the lightweight markup language reStructuredText. A live demonstration will show how to create and publish technical documentation step by step, without magic and without pain.

We will also touch on the broader context—how a docs-as-code approach fits naturally into modern development workflows, and what role automation can play. Finally, we will ask whether AI can really help us document software, or whether it merely produces new forms of outdated or misleading text. The goal is simple: to make documentation a normal part of programming, not a burden that comes afterwards.