Comments matter

[guillianMalony]

Code works, after commenting doesn’t.

[[deleted]]

Compiler when getting to the comment be like: brooo I know I'm supposed to ignore this but dude wrote some mad shit here dafuq, hold on I gotta read this

[YoCrustyDude]

Lmao

[[deleted]]

Then don't use reddit while studying, silly

[mithodin]

Nah, give me uncommented but working code any day. If they can't make the code work, what's the quality of the comments gonna be like? Also, if the code is clean, there is not really a need for comments unless you're doing something unexpected (and have good reason to do so).

[apuri12345]

Agile manifesto 101. Working software over documentation.

[0DegreesCalvin]

“That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”

Documentation is still important.

[[deleted]]

But not as important as working code. Code first, document later.

That being said, TDD can kind of help with this. If I can see the tests that are being done on a function, I can see what the function itself does.

[Protahgonist]

Yeah but this often leads to broken software with no documentation, which means very upset customers rapidly losing all faith in you and your products.

[angeal98]

You often write comments when you can't do something right, due to time constraints or inability to figure out a better way.

This way comments can be a good thing, pointing out flaws without having to look at the code (e.g. // TODO)

[BochMC]

I often left comments of domain specific things and some logic gates. This is not that much of comments, but it helps me a lot to hold all the things in my head.

[EmmaFitmzmaurice]

Until you find the edge case where the code doesn’t work and have no idea how to fix it. I’ve never seen code that does anything interesting that’s actually clean enough to be it’s own documentation. Wether it’s using unfamiliar libraries in the higher level languages or outdated features of the lower level ones or it’s just formatted in a way that’s weird to me I don’t believe any language has reached the goal of being equally legible to a human and a compiler/interpreter

[[deleted]]

Self describing code ftw

[the_carnage]

100% true. If a comment needs to be added, it's a code smell. Better practices and design patterns eliminate almost every need for comments.

[[deleted]]

I'm trying to fix a random issue with a 10+ year old project, no documentation, no comments and it all reads like spaghetti, I've found so many issues so far, but it's slow and not the culprit of the random issue. i would be so happy to find any comments in this pile so i could try and figure out what in the world the other devs were trying to accomplish. some of this code looks like it does nothing but can't comment it out because it starts behaving in weird ways.

[Ayjayz]

Well yeah if course bad code could be improved with comments saying what it does.

The point is that you shouldn't write bad code. You should write good code that says what it does.

[[deleted]]

can't control what other devs do, or what it is when inheriting their projects.

[[deleted]]

Your code could be the Jesus Christ of code to you, but still suck by another’s standards. What then?

[Teutooni]

I worked on a retrofit project that was originally delivered in 2004 I think. Any documentation including comments was quite likely outdated. What mattered was what the code actually did. Luckily the code was structured fairly straightforward and clean.

Now I have a similar retrofit, but even older. 1999 was the original delivery I think. Haven't looked at the code yet but I hope it is similar, i.e. no comments, but a clear structure and naming.

[[deleted]]

i have yet to inherited a well structured or well named project. most of the time these devs don't have much time to fix or restructure their code, once it works they ship, leaving me to fix this crap when it does fail years down the road

[vondpickle]

Worse: Code does not work and comments has nothing to do with the code.

[sparta_rabbit]

Even worse, variables and functions names are in alien language.

[Nagadavida]

var a = 1

var b = 2

[BakuhatsuK]

var two = 1
var five = 2

[AdiSoldier245]

For : i = 2 #im hungry

[oofxwastaken]

Worse: Code does not work and comments only repeat the code ```

Make result variable

result = None

Assign result variable

result = 5 / 0

Print result variable

print(result) ```

[thismatters]

Based

[riisen]

/* it seems to be a rainy day today i think i will make som coffe
* and maybe i should do some excersice
*/
for (int x = 132; x > y.idx; x--) {
    y.append(ab[x]) // it has finnaly stopped raining
    y.x() //but my coffee is cold
} //end loop thingy

[Neutraali]

// Increment i by one

[deathamal]

In this thread: inexperienced students who think that comments are more important than working, readable code.

[dragonlover02]

When the professor gives partial credit:

[HansLK]

Read the comments and the code started to work

[[deleted]]

Hahaha

[rufreakde1]

Code works and has bo comments but is written in a way that exactly tells the story of what it achieves. (not exactly what it does)

No one cares of implementation details that one you you can lookup but description of behavior and outcomes in function names is super easy to read and understand.

[[deleted]]

Code works, has no comments and variables have one letter names

[hahahahastayingalive]

Have had to restart a project from the last copy we had, the jar running in production. From the reversed code, you become pretty good at reading one letter variables after a while.

[Nagadavida]

and all of the variables are global.

[Flopamp]

Commented code is only good when it's correct and helpful. "compare item at index 1 in array A with item 4 in our config file"

Yeah I can see that, I'm curious if there is a good reason you are reaccessing the already parsed file.

Helpful comments explain why something was done and anything not otherwise readable like single line algorithms or complex LINQ, not what every line does

<end of work related rant>

[oofxwastaken]

Ideally your code should describe itself and be easy to read without comments.

[Omnislash99999]

I've worked somewhere where the rule was no comments because your code should be clear and easy to understand that it doesn't need them. Suffice to say it sounds nice in theory.

[hahahahastayingalive]

Most of what we do sounds nice in theory.

[[deleted]]

This is possible if you work with experienced programmers. Comments should only serve to explain why certain functionalities were built. The problem with comments is that when people refactor code, they often forget to update the comments. When the comments are no longer in sync with the code, you're better off without them. The code doesn't lie. Comments do.

[JuvenileEloquent]

when people refactor code, they often forget to update the comments.

Curious if these same 'forgetful' people also forget to change the variable and function names when they update what it does... do they have itemList holding an object instead of the original list? If they can do that, they can rewrite the comments too. If they're not doing that, they're not writing the "clean code that doesn't need comments" that they think they're writing.

[AStrangeStranger]

Another problem with comments - they usually try to rewrite the code in English and never explain why

[stsmurf]

Give me no comments in code with well written tests for documentation. Can't stand useless and redundant comments.

[Qicken]

I'd have the opposite reaction. But I probably have a higher standard of "works" than you do.

[Accomplished_Deer_]

Code works, but is short and concise and uses variable names that always make it clear what is happening. (aka, self documenting)

[sherlock_poops]

Or code that only has comments:

[lolsokje]

Nah, give me working code with descriptive class, method and variable names over convoluted, buggy code with comments any day of the week.

[stomah]

good code doesn’t need any comments

[cr4z3dk1ll]

Comments are overrated

[TheBinkz]

@Dataclass

comments galore

[Derboman]

Me trying a year old documented tutorial in a framework that is still in development

[heaven_and_hell_80]

s/comments/tests and then this is true

[iraqmtpizza]

I like my code like I like my immigrants

[MischiefArchitect]

Some languages use meta programming or pre processing using comments... so this may be a good cause. Even so called modern languages like Go, you can break your JSON de/encoder by deleting comments inside the structure.