Idiotic programming style edicts
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From: Jonathan de Boyne Pollard on 16 Mar 2010 12:51 > >> >> If an obscure technique is being employed, then a comment to that >> effect is a helpful pointer but I have seen _REALLY USEFUL_ comments >> along the following lines ... >> >> x := X + 1 ; increment x >> >> ... which only serve to increase the noise floor. >> > In our shop, those appeared when we got the idiotic edict that each > line had to have a comment. > Such edicts make one want to write code in the form x /* The variable x */ = /* is assigned */ x /* its value * / + /* plus * / 2 /* one */ ; /* . */
From: Eric Chomko on 16 Mar 2010 14:08 On Mar 16, 12:51 pm, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard- newsgro...(a)NTLWorld.COM> wrote: > >> If an obscure technique is being employed, then a comment to that > >> effect is a helpful pointer but I have seen _REALLY USEFUL_ comments > >> along the following lines ... > > >> x := X + 1 ; increment x > > >> ... which only serve to increase the noise floor. > > > In our shop, those appeared when we got the idiotic edict that each > > line had to have a comment. > > Such edicts make one want to write code in the form > > x /* The variable x */ > = /* is assigned */ > x /* its value * / > + /* plus * / > 2 /* one */ > ; /* . */ Or, char *x /* magic pointer */ x--; /* bump the pointer backwards */
From: Kenny McCormack on 16 Mar 2010 14:13 In article <IU.D20100316.T165150.P1185.Q0(a)J.de.Boyne.Pollard.localhost>, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard-newsgroups(a)NTLWorld.COM> wrote: >> >>> >>> If an obscure technique is being employed, then a comment to that >>> effect is a helpful pointer but I have seen _REALLY USEFUL_ comments >>> along the following lines ... >>> >>> x := X + 1 ; increment x A true CLC pedantic would point out that the above does not increment x (unless x and X have the same value). >>> ... which only serve to increase the noise floor. >>> >> In our shop, those appeared when we got the idiotic edict that each >> line had to have a comment. >> >Such edicts make one want to write code in the form > > x /* The variable x */ > = /* is assigned */ > x /* its value * / > + /* plus * / > 2 /* two */ > ; /* . */ Correction applied. HTH. -- (This discussion group is about C, ...) Wrong. It is only OCCASIONALLY a discussion group about C; mostly, like most "discussion" groups, it is off-topic Rorsharch revelations of the childhood traumas of the participants...
From: ImpalerCore on 16 Mar 2010 14:14 On Mar 16, 12:51 pm, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard- newsgro...(a)NTLWorld.COM> wrote: > >> If an obscure technique is being employed, then a comment to that > >> effect is a helpful pointer but I have seen _REALLY USEFUL_ comments > >> along the following lines ... > > >> x := X + 1 ; increment x > > >> ... which only serve to increase the noise floor. > > > In our shop, those appeared when we got the idiotic edict that each > > line had to have a comment. > > Such edicts make one want to write code in the form > > x /* The variable x */ > = /* is assigned */ > x /* its value * / > + /* plus * / > 2 /* one */ > ; /* . */ It also shows that maintaining these kinds of comment are more trouble than the comment is worth. The maintenance of these comments is way higher than the information they give, i.e. Who forgot to change the '/ * one */' to '/* two */'?
From: Andrew Poelstra on 16 Mar 2010 14:40
On 2010-03-16, ImpalerCore <jadill33(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Mar 16, 12:51�pm, Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard- > newsgro...(a)NTLWorld.COM> wrote: >> >> If an obscure technique is being employed, then a comment to that >> >> effect is a helpful pointer but I have seen _REALLY USEFUL_ comments >> >> along the following lines ... >> >> >> x := X + 1 �; increment x >> >> >> ... which only serve to increase the noise floor. >> >> > In our shop, those appeared when we got the idiotic edict that each >> > line had to have a comment. >> >> Such edicts make one want to write code in the form >> >> � � �x �/* The variable x */ >> � � �= �/* is assigned */ >> � � �x �/* its value * / >> � � �+ �/* plus * / >> � � �2 �/* one */ >> � � �; � /* . */ > > It also shows that maintaining these kinds of comment are more trouble > than the comment is worth. The maintenance of these comments is way > higher than the information they give, i.e. Who forgot to change the '/ > * one */' to '/* two */'? x /* The pointer */ -> /* equals */ x /* itself */ = /* minus */ 2 /* five */ ; /* :( */ -- Andrew Poelstra http://www.wpsoftware.net/andrew |