Commenting code

[jack]

I think my brain is hardwired to solve problems in the most elegant way. This has good consequences (I got a good degree from Cambridge, am paid £n0k/yr to program, and can beat Tony at noughts and crosses generalisations) and bad consequences (I don't like asking for directions or other help, I find it hard to get on well with people, etc).

When I was young, it used to almost be a point of pride that I didn't comment my code. Now I do so quite well, or so I believe. But I think both stem from the same underlying trait. When I was young, I saw the problem as "Write this program." Now, the problem has evolved into "Write this program so it works, and solves a specific problem, and in the future update it with the least possible effort."

Comments

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If you optimistically assume coding is 99% of the time -- which it might be for a short purely technical personal project -- coding adds a lot. But nowadays almost all the time is working out what you should make things do, writing it is easy, so comments become *part* of the working out time.

"Bet you can't see why I've done it like this!"

ROFL.

Now I think the standard should be that *someone else* can update it in the future with the least possible effort

That's about right. As a matter of fact I tend to think of "myself, with no memory of this code whatsoever" which is often close to the truth.