---
title: "Chapter 13: Native library APIs"
date: 2026-10-01
description: "Download PDF Library-based APIs are programming-language-specific APIs, such as Java and C++ libraries (instead of web APIs) that developers compile into their code instead of accessing..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis
---

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# Chapter 13: Native library APIs

[Download PDF](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/learnapidoc/e/146076)

Library-based APIs are programming-language-specific APIs, such as Java and C++ libraries (instead of web APIs) that developers compile into their code instead of accessing via web protocols. If you’re documenting a library-based API, at least for the reference content, you add documentation in the form of code comments (following specific tags), and then build the output using tools like Javadoc (for Java) or Doxygen (for C++). Each library-based API has its own documentation generators that build from source and output documentation from comments in that source. Although working in the source code might seem uncomfortable at first, it’s essential to become familiar with these workflows if you want to contribute to the API’s reference documentation.

- [Overview of native library APIs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_overview.html)
- [Get the sample Java project](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_getting_the_source.html)
- [Java crash course](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_java_crash_course.html)
- [Activity: Generate a Javadoc from a sample project](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_create_javadoc.html)
- [Javadoc tags](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_javadoc_tags.html)
- [Explore the Javadoc output](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_exploring_javadoc_output.html)
- [Make edits to Javadoc tags](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_editing_javadoc.html)
- [Doxygen, a document generator mainly for C++](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_doxygen.html)
- [Create non-ref docs with native library APIs](https://idratherbewriting.com/learnapidoc/nativelibraryapis_nonrefdocs.html)