Re: Code Maintainability

[sundialsvc4]

Well, I do find that comments are extremely useful. They help me understand "what that damned fool was (not...) thinking when he wrote this awful code!" ... even though, of course, that "fool" was likely-as-not me!

What a good comment tells me, that (Perl or otherwise) source-code cannot, is: the designer's intent. It serves as an introduction to the code, a way to point-out particulars about understanding it, a "running narrative" between the original writer and the (same or different) person who follows him/her.

I never need a comment to tell me, "this is what this-or-that code block does." I can see that. What I need to know is: "what was running through your head when you wrote this?" "What's the not-so-obvious or easily forgotten aspect of this code that you'd really like to point out to me? What's the special breadcrumb that you'd like me to remember?"

"Priceless."

[Forsaken]

I can't help but agree with this. Going through some code that I wrote 2 years ago, I can easily see *what* it does, but I'm damn happy I used comments to explain *why* I chose to do certain things a certain way.