Using markdown-style javadoc comments (JEP 467)

[Nir Lisker]

As both referenced pull requests are mine, I'll add that MD docs are
especially helpful with regards to code blocks. The combination of {@code}
and <pre> is cumbersome. {@snippet} is also a good solution here. I've been
using MD comments since JDK 23 and I never found the need to use HTML ones
since, especially when you can still use HTML tags in MD comments, which
are necessary for tables (the MD tables flavor in the JDK can't add the
mandatory alt-text/caption).

Further, I don't see an issue with mixed HTML and MD comments in the same
file/repo, just like with any newer replacements. If a relevant segment of
code changes, the doc comments can be converted with it (and I would argue
that this conversion is always an improvement).

Andy, I use the integration builds of Eclipse. They are stable and contain
the latest fixes so I don't need to wait for the quarterly releases.
Parsing MD docs has been fixed, writing them still entails some annoyances
(issue #1800 in jdt.ui), but it works.

On Thu, Oct 2, 2025 at 8:11 PM Andy Goryachev <andy.goryachev at oracle.com>
wrote:

> I think it's a good idea, the new markdown style is more readable and
> compact.
>
> The only downside I found so far is that the latest Eclipse does not
> refresh the javadoc tab when editing (someone said it's already fixed in
> the mainline).
>
> -andy
>
> *From: *openjfx-dev <openjfx-dev-retn at openjdk.org> on behalf of Kevin
> Rushforth <kevin.rushforth at oracle.com>
> *Date: *Thursday, October 2, 2025 at 09:59
> *To: *openjfx-dev <openjfx-dev at openjdk.org>
> *Subject: *Using markdown-style javadoc comments (JEP 467)
>
> Now that JavaFX requires JDK 24 to build, we can use features from JDK
> 23 and 24 like markdown javadoc comments from JEP 467 [0], which was
> delivered in JDK 23.
>
> Two outstanding pull requests, PR 1873 [1] and PR 1880 [2], have
> proposed changes that do just that.
>
> As was pointed out in a review comment on PR 1873 [3], we should make a
> deliberate decision to start using them and have some guidelines around
> doing so.
>
> To that end, I would propose that developers can start using markdown
> javadoc comments in new APIs and in APIs that are modified such that
> markdown comments would be helpful.
>
> This is not an invitation to do wholesale changing of existing javadoc
> comments to markdown-style comments for docs that otherwise aren't being
> modified.
>
> Comments are welcome.
>
> -- Kevin
>
> [0] https://openjdk.org/jeps/467
> [1] https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/1873
> [2] https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/1880
> [3] https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/pull/1873#discussion_r2283161713
>
>
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