comment on

The answer to the problem of encountering code you do not understand, is to educate yourself.
Look it up or ask someone!

A code example, including some comments I have used:

  # add attributes to object
  my @fields = (keys %{ $attributes });
  @{ $self }{ @fields } = @{ $attributes }{ @fields };    # hash slice
[download]

The first comment gives someone skimming the code a hint about what's happening here (that they can figure it out by close study may be likely, but making them engage in that study just to find out if this is the part of code they care about is at best inconsiderate).

The second comment, "hash slice", is the sort of thing a beginning programmer would need in order to have a hope of looking up the technique in use.

The fact that the level of knowledge of the audience is uncertain does not obviate the need to address the audience at a certain level. Would you argue against explanatory subroutine and variable names because a really good programmer doesn't need those hints?

In reply to Re^5: Programming *is* much more than "just writing code". by doom
in thread Programming *is* much more than "just writing code". by BrowserUk

Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:
<code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>
Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.


"be consistent"
	PerlMonks