Comments on: Imbeciles in the Wild http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/archives/imbeciles-in-the-wild/ Programming and Life Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:01:20 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Dutch http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/archives/imbeciles-in-the-wild/comment-page-1/#comment-118013 Dutch Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:29:29 +0000 http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/?p=259#comment-118013 There's a couple of interesting problems with code comments. The first is the additional overall bytes size of a file. In large projects this becomes expesive overhead. Granted, with modern systems this means a lot less than it used to. However, when you are releasing to a mixed audience of users and user systems it becomes something to take into account again. Then again, there are wonderful things which have come about as a result of old needs to minimize the overall byte size. As an OO Developer I would expect to see some healthy UML out of you Jeremy. This would have mitigated a few headaches I had when supporting your work post your leaving the building. At that point in time, some clearer comments would have sufficed well too. The problem I've seen many developers have in commenting their code boils down to a simple thing: the next poor bastage who has to work on it just may be less skilled than you. If you seek to leave a place better than you found it leave a clear instruction manual where you sat. Of course, code that is still in place and common use as half of the staple product offering over a year after you were released for supposedly being short of the desired skill level is good approach too. There’s a couple of interesting problems with code comments. The first is the additional overall bytes size of a file. In large projects this becomes expesive overhead. Granted, with modern systems this means a lot less than it used to. However, when you are releasing to a mixed audience of users and user systems it becomes something to take into account again.

Then again, there are wonderful things which have come about as a result of old needs to minimize the overall byte size. As an OO Developer I would expect to see some healthy UML out of you Jeremy. This would have mitigated a few headaches I had when supporting your work post your leaving the building. At that point in time, some clearer comments would have sufficed well too.

The problem I’ve seen many developers have in commenting their code boils down to a simple thing: the next poor bastage who has to work on it just may be less skilled than you. If you seek to leave a place better than you found it leave a clear instruction manual where you sat.

Of course, code that is still in place and common use as half of the staple product offering over a year after you were released for supposedly being short of the desired skill level is good approach too.

]]> By: Steven http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/archives/imbeciles-in-the-wild/comment-page-1/#comment-114925 Steven Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:22:17 +0000 http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/?p=259#comment-114925 It could make sense if most of the developer's comments were like "// set $x to 4", which could happen if they're in the middle of an intro CS course where they tell you to comment everything. I mainly just comment the purpose of classes/functions/properties, and any complex code blocks that might confuse others (or me) down the road. It could make sense if most of the developer’s comments were like “// set $x to 4″, which could happen if they’re in the middle of an intro CS course where they tell you to comment everything. I mainly just comment the purpose of classes/functions/properties, and any complex code blocks that might confuse others (or me) down the road.

]]> By: Ben Babcock http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/archives/imbeciles-in-the-wild/comment-page-1/#comment-114909 Ben Babcock Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:36:40 +0000 http://www.jeremyprivett.com/blog/?p=259#comment-114909 Heck, I've had so many problems over the years that could've been solved if _I_ had commented my stuff properly. :P Heck, I’ve had so many problems over the years that could’ve been solved if _I_ had commented my stuff properly. :P

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