[COFF] Code/comment Ratios Style

I've written my fair share of code and also taught several languages. I'd estimate my comment to total LOC ratio as about 1/4 to 1/3. But I keep coming across code bases where the ratio is closer to 1/100 and it really bugs me! I just can't read the codebase and work out the nuances of what it is doing. So this isn't a rant so much as a request for alternate perspectives. If you have a spartan commenting style, why? Can you read your code and see all the implications, or do you dislike lots of comments, or do you write more external documentation etc.? When I taught, I had two mantras about comments: Code explains how, comments explain why. Code as if the person who takes over your codebase is a crazed psychopath who knows where you live. Thanks! Warren