Comments on: Code commenting: one of the casualties of outsourcing http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: T2A` http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/comment-page-1/#comment-33019 T2A` Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:13:33 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/?p=868#comment-33019 Properly named variables are a big factor in code readability too, but lots of people don't seem to notice this. The overall layout of functions, methods, and classes plays a big role as well. Properly named variables are a big factor in code readability too, but lots of people don’t seem to notice this. The overall layout of functions, methods, and classes plays a big role as well.

]]> By: Ed http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/comment-page-1/#comment-33013 Ed Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:42:54 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/?p=868#comment-33013 Bad comments are quite grim as well. Sometimes it takes more time to understand the comments someone else wrote, than to understand their code; "proper" comments can be gibberish as well. I never did any serious professional programming but in my (hobby) C programs the only comments I tend to write are bad jokes, expletives, complaints about how much time it took to write and debug that, copywrong notices, etc etc. I then pass it along. If anyone comes back to me with comments about my comments, I know I got someone really interested in my program and do all the best I can to explain it. Bad comments are quite grim as well. Sometimes it takes more time to understand the comments someone else wrote, than to understand their code; “proper” comments can be gibberish as well.
I never did any serious professional programming but in my (hobby) C programs the only comments I tend to write are bad jokes, expletives, complaints about how much time it took to write and debug that, copywrong notices, etc etc. I then pass it along.
If anyone comes back to me with comments about my comments, I know I got someone really interested in my program and do all the best I can to explain it.

]]> By: arensb http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/comment-page-1/#comment-32902 arensb Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:46:11 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/?p=868#comment-32902 T2A` <blockquote>Binary data doesn’t have to be executable to end up gibberish in a text editor. :P</blockquote> Heck, if you've ever edited a sendmail.cf, you know that it doesn't even need to be binary to be gibberish. T2A`

Binary data doesn’t have to be executable to end up gibberish in a text editor. :P

Heck, if you’ve ever edited a sendmail.cf, you know that it doesn’t even need to be binary to be gibberish.

]]> By: arensb http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/comment-page-1/#comment-32892 arensb Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:33:12 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/?p=868#comment-32892 <blockquote>especially the variable names, which followed some kind of naming convention that was completely foreign to me.</blockquote> It could be worse, since it sounds as though the variable names were ASCII strings, at least. In Perl and, I believe, C9x, any character that can appear in a word may be used in an identifier. In a Unicode world, that means the author could have used Korean identifiers, and your job would have been that much harder.

especially the variable names, which followed some kind of naming convention that was completely foreign to me.

It could be worse, since it sounds as though the variable names were ASCII strings, at least.

In Perl and, I believe, C9x, any character that can appear in a word may be used in an identifier. In a Unicode world, that means the author could have used Korean identifiers, and your job would have been that much harder.

]]> By: T2A` http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/07/21/code-commenting-one-of-the-casualties-of-outsourcing/comment-page-1/#comment-32865 T2A` Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:11:29 +0000 http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/?p=868#comment-32865 Binary data doesn't have to be executable to end up gibberish in a text editor. :P Binary data doesn’t have to be executable to end up gibberish in a text editor. :P

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