Editing Java syntax (section)

===Comments===
Java has three kinds of [[Comment (computer programming)|comments]]: ''traditional comments'', ''end-of-line comments'' and ''documentation comments''.

Traditional comments, also known as block comments, start with <code>/*</code> and end with <code>*/</code>, they may span across multiple lines. This type of comment was derived from C and C++.

<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
/* This is a multi-line comment.
It may occupy more than one line. */
</syntaxhighlight>

End-of-line comments start with <code>//</code> and extend to the end of the current line. This comment type is also present in C++ and in modern C.
<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
// This is an end-of-line comment
</syntaxhighlight>

Documentation comments in the source files are processed by the [[Javadoc]] tool to generate documentation. This type of comment is identical to traditional comments, except it starts with <code>/**</code> and follows conventions defined by the Javadoc tool. Technically, these comments are a special kind of traditional comment and they are not specifically defined in the language specification.
<syntaxhighlight lang="java">
/**
 * This is a documentation comment.
 * 
 * @author John Doe
 */
</syntaxhighlight>