<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
,	O
designed	O
by	O
Dave	O
Thomas	O
,	O
is	O
an	O
embedded	B-Protocol
documentation	I-Protocol
generator	I-Protocol
for	O
the	O
Ruby	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
analyzes	O
Ruby	B-Language
source	O
code	O
,	O
generating	O
a	O
structured	O
collection	O
of	O
pages	O
for	O
Ruby	B-Language
objects	O
and	O
methods	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
is	O
included	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Ruby	B-Language
core	O
distribution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
RDoc	B-Protocol
software	O
and	O
format	O
are	O
successors	O
to	O
the	O
Ruby	B-Language
Document	I-Language
format	I-Language
(	O
with	O
associated	O
software	O
RD	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
can	O
produce	O
usable	O
documentation	O
even	O
if	O
the	O
target	O
source	O
code	O
does	O
not	O
contain	O
explicit	O
comments	O
as	O
it	O
will	O
still	O
parse	B-Language
the	O
classes	O
,	O
modules	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
methods	B-Language
,	O
and	O
list	O
them	O
in	O
the	O
generated	O
API	B-Application
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
also	O
provides	O
the	O
engine	O
for	O
creating	O
Ruby	B-Language
ri	O
data	O
files	O
,	O
providing	O
access	O
to	O
API	B-Application
information	O
from	O
the	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
and	O
ri	O
are	O
currently	O
maintained	O
by	O
Eric	O
Hodel	O
and	O
Ryan	O
Davis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RDoc	B-Protocol
supports	O
four	O
markup	O
languages	O
,	O
RDoc	B-Protocol
Markup	O
,	O
Markdown	O
,	O
tomdoc	O
,	O
and	O
rdtool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
own	O
RDoc	B-Protocol
Markup	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
default	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
RDoc	B-Protocol
Markup	O
,	O
special	O
directives	O
are	O
enclosed	O
in	O
a	O
pair	O
of	O
colons	O
.	O
</s>
