5 ms·

Code that breaks is much more likely and damaging than comments that are out of date. In my life I've never had a case where the bad outweighed the good for com

by Salgat 2y ago

Code that breaks is much more likely and damaging than comments that are out of date. In my life I've never had a case where the bad outweighed the good for comments.

kmoser 2y ago
Also, if you're doing regular code reviews, wouldn't that include making sure the comments are up-to-date? As for the argument that it wastes time to update comments, I've never seen a codebase where the comments were so voluminous that it would be a significant burden to update them. Devs avoid updating comments because there is usually no penalty for doing so (boss doesn't call them on it, and the code still runs), and they think they've saved a few minutes when in fact they're just kicking the can down the road for the next dev who has to decipher the incorrect (or missing) comment.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
  No. If the comment isn't highlighted in green or red in the commit, I'm not likely to read it.
  - PeterisP 2y ago
    Well, that's a problem.
8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
Code breaks because people read the comment and assume it speaks truth when in fact it's full of lies. And as soon as you don't trust comments you have to start reading the code. And if you're at that point now..... Why have the comment?
- bottlepalm 2y ago
  Comments don't replace reading code, they prime your brain for the code you're about to read. There is often context and reason behind the code that is not in the code itself.
- Salgat 2y ago
  If you ever trust comments over code you really need to adjust your approach. Comments are there to help guide you towards the intent of code, not to let you ignore code. Same reason why if a function has a bug, you don't ignore that bug just because the function's doc says otherwise.
- CRConrad 2y ago
  Code sometimes breaks because people read the comment and assume it speaks truth when in fact it's full of lies. And often for completely different reasons. Blithely assuming it's all about "lying" comments is totally unsupported by any evidence.

by Salgat 2y ago

Code that breaks is much more likely and damaging than comments that are out of date. In my life I've never had a case where the bad outweighed the good for comments.

kmoser 2y ago

Also, if you're doing regular code reviews, wouldn't that include making sure the comments are up-to-date? As for the argument that it wastes time to update comments, I've never seen a codebase where the comments were so voluminous that it would be a significant burden to update them. Devs avoid updating comments because there is usually no penalty for doing so (boss doesn't call them on it, and the code still runs), and they think they've saved a few minutes when in fact they're just kicking the can down the road for the next dev who has to decipher the incorrect (or missing) comment.

8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago
No. If the comment isn't highlighted in green or red in the commit, I'm not likely to read it.
- PeterisP 2y ago
  Well, that's a problem.

8n4vidtmkvmk 2y ago

Code breaks because people read the comment and assume it speaks truth when in fact it's full of lies. And as soon as you don't trust comments you have to start reading the code. And if you're at that point now..... Why have the comment?

bottlepalm 2y ago
Comments don't replace reading code, they prime your brain for the code you're about to read. There is often context and reason behind the code that is not in the code itself.
Salgat 2y ago
If you ever trust comments over code you really need to adjust your approach. Comments are there to help guide you towards the intent of code, not to let you ignore code. Same reason why if a function has a bug, you don't ignore that bug just because the function's doc says otherwise.
CRConrad 2y ago
Code sometimes breaks because people read the comment and assume it speaks truth when in fact it's full of lies. And often for completely different reasons. Blithely assuming it's all about "lying" comments is totally unsupported by any evidence.