Chapter 3 · Practice 3 of 3
Describe algorithms and key logic instead of pasting source code
Why it matters
The implementation chapter is not a printout of your repository. FAST's handbook puts it plainly: implementation details mean "not the programming code but the algorithmic and procedural details", especially the backend logic not covered in the design.
Good content for this chapter:
- The core algorithms, in pseudocode or a short, commented snippet.
- How components connect: APIs, message flows, authentication.
- Data processing steps, such as cleaning, feature extraction or training settings.
- Tricky problems you solved and how, such as sync conflicts or performance issues.
- Tools, libraries and versions used, with credit to open source projects.
Put long listings, configuration files and full API references in an appendix or point to the repository. A page of well-explained pseudocode teaches the reader more than twenty pages of source.
Do
- Use pseudocode or short snippets for core logic
- List libraries and versions with credit
Avoid
- Pasting whole source files into the chapter