Myths About Code Comments

theodp writes "Jason Baker gives his take on the biggest misconceptions about code comments: 1) Comments are free ('When you update the code that the comment references, you usually have to update the comment as well'). 2) Comments make code more readable ('by far the most pervasive myth that I've encountered'). 3) You should comment every function, method, class, and module ('documenting something that needs no documentation is universally a bad idea'). 4) Code must always be 'self documenting' ('would you rather use a one-liner that requires a 3-line comment, or a 10-liner that requires no comments?')."

Comments

Re:Has No One Actually Studied This?

[malp]

oh for fucks sake, no one but first year CS students talk about sort algorithms. I was accidentally assigned to the CS dorm freshman year. Christ, you woulda thought sort algorithms were the pinnacle of philosophy based on those #$#%#$%#%$ 's conversations.