From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: paul.winalski@gmail.com (Paul Winalski) Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2018 13:28:34 -0400 Subject: [TUHS] daemons are not to be exorcised In-Reply-To: <6c6699c0-15db-604a-181c-7dad282599e1@kilonet.net> References: <20180321141753.25C4418C088@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> <6c6699c0-15db-604a-181c-7dad282599e1@kilonet.net> Message-ID: On 3/21/18, Arthur Krewat wrote: > > It was instilled in me early on by my one and only mentor that someone > that comes along later may have no idea what my code is doing. So > comment. Even when it might be self-explanitory, comment anyway. In my 40-year career as a programmer, I've more than once had that someone who comes along later be myself. I also apply what I call the Bus Principle. If you get hit by a bus and killed, one of your colleagues is going to have to take over your work. Give them a fighting chance with code comments, and maybe even a design document for large or complex things. > I have noticed a lot of newer programmers these days that say > (paraphrased): "Good code will explain itself" as a reason not to > comment. Mostly C++ and Java programmers. > > I call bullshit on that. Not commenting is lazy. There's no reason NOT > to comment. Amen to that! Good comments are one of the things that distinguishes Software Engineering from mere programming. -Paul W.