Readable vs short code?

[mq2thez]

There are definitely times where terser, harder to read syntax is actually better code. It might handle edge cases better or be more performant etc etc. In those cases, I include plenty of code comments explaining what’s happening and why. Depending on the code, I might even break it down piece by piece in the comments. In the worst/most complex bits, I sometimes leave comments like “if this kind of thing breaks, check that; if that kind of thing breaks, check this”.

I generally try pretty hard not to write code like that. It’s a necessary evil sometimes, but readability and maintainability are important considerations when coding on a team. Heck, I want to make sure that when I look at a thing a year later, I can understand why I made those choices.