javadoc support for private members ?

Hi all,

I just wondered if documenting private members of a class in a javadoc-style is rather a good thing or should better be omitted?
I mean documenting this way means revealing implementation details and you won't really bother someone with such details just having a look at the public API-documentation ?
Nevertheless, when I look at code examples provided by java ranch and literature dealing with the exam, private members are most often documented this way.

What's the right way to handle this?
Thanks!

Bear in mind that certification exams aren't intended to reflect how things should be done in the real world, nor are they intended to cover "best practices". Don't look to certification exams for examples of good code; quite often their examples are extremely bad code which has been chosen to illustrate a particular feature.

trying to read between the lines, is it what you mean style and conventions have no or little effect on the grade ... ?

Hi Andy,

I also documented all members (including private ones) and generated javadoc for all access modifiers except private. According to the instructions

javadoc style comments must be used for each element of the public interface of each class

So it is a must requirement and it won't have effect on your grade if you don't document private members.
I think not applying a good coding style and following (java naming) conventions will affect your grade. But it is a guess, because if you lose points, you won't know the reason(s) why.

Kind regards,
Roel