RE: Re[2]: IBM pushing Java

[PaulMmn <PaulMmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>"its always easier to remove redundant comments than to decipher logic from
>sourcecode."

>I understand it's preference, but sometimes it's taken too far.  When I see
>comments like that I get the sense that the programmer (or should I say
>coder) didn't really feel comfortable with what they were doing.

Those times when I write a program that gets heavily into data manipulation
that takes me a while to figure out, and does some Nifty Things (Yes, yes,
Nifty Things aren't all they're cracked up to be), or uses an algorithm
that takes some understanding (ie Binary Search), I tend to 'write a book'
of comments describing in narrative form exactly what's going on.

My goal is to enlighten the next programmer to work on the program so that
they can -understand- what's happening before they make their changes.

        "I'll just stick my code in right -here-, I guess that's as good a
place as any."

If someone understands what's happening, that 'right place' is more likely
to be the right place!

And, if Murphy has his say, -=I'll=- be the next programmer in about 8
months.  (:

--Paul E Musselman
PaulMmn@ix.netcom.com


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