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0 pointsguenthert3y ago0 comments

Sure, if the computer can figure out what a given fragment of code is supposed to do, so can you (a sufficiently clever programmer). The question rather is, do you spend 20s reading a comment or 15m to solve the riddle?

There's a real danger that comments aren't updated when code is, particularly if 3rd parties make those changes. This is one of the corners where there will never be a single answer which is right in all circumstances.

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3 comments · 3 top-level

ethbr03y ago

> There's a real danger that comments aren't updated when code is, particularly if 3rd parties make those changes.

So much this. If it took you everything you learned over the last week + an epiphany to come up with a bit of code, how is someone scanning through supposed to understand it?

Or, in example with hilariously apropos incomplete post-hoc comments, 0x5F3759DF https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root#Ove...

BurningFrog3y ago

Often, breaking out a well named variable or three is the better way to make code readable.

ParetoOptimal3y ago

> There's a real danger that comments aren't updated when code is, particularly if 3rd parties make those changes

That problem exists because no one denies pull requests or rejects code that has outdated comments.

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