this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (21 children)

Asking as a newbie programmer: how do you suggest we write comments that explain the 'why' part of the code? I understand writing comments explaining the 'what' part makes them redundant, but I feel like writing it the former way isn't adding much help either. I mean, if I created code for a clock, is writing "It helps tell what time it is" better than writing "It is a clock" ?

It would really help if someone could give a code snippet that clearly demonstrates how commenting the 'correct' way is clearly better than the way we are used to.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Unless you're writing something in the open source world, rarely does any code need comments at all.

[–] firelizzard 5 points 1 month ago

That’s a hot take. If you want your code to be maintainable at all, it needs comments. If you’re part of a team, write comments for them. If someone else may take over your project after you move on, leave comments for them. And have you ever tried to read uncommented code you wrote a year ago? Leave comments for yourself.

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