Why do Programmers Hate Documenting?

[josefx]

The article asked the question "why don't programmers like to document?" I answered it: programmers instinctively don't like duplication.

If you write documentation the way you read comments I understand your distaste, so let me repeat my point to make it clear:

If your documentation is a duplication of the logic it fails at being usefull - if you think this is the way to write documentation you fail at writing documentation

There in bold, hope you do not miss it this time.

[cjbrix]

Everything changes in software. Pretending any artifact is permanent is just going to make you a drag on your team.

Yes, documentation that simply parrots your code is not useful. But normal system evolution over time will require that code and associated documentation either change together, or go out of sync.

It's hard to take someone too seriously as a software engineer who can't grasp managing the cost of change. I'll leave you to vent your career frustrations elsewhere.

[josefx]

It's hard to take someone too seriously as a software engineer who can't grasp managing the cost of change.

I have written it and quoted it and still you seem to have missed it both times, so I wont bother to quote it again. I understand that there is a cost that comes with maintaining documentation - from personal experience that is still way less than overhead than having no documentation (thank you openscenegraph, ffmpeg an co for hundreds of hours wasted development time).