21 Jul
2025
21 Jul
'25
12:30 a.m.
I just posted the most heavily commented code I have ever written.
It's a radical (mis?)application of m4, which is about as inscrutable
as any language short of APL. The ratio of comments to code is more
than 3:1.
It's at www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~doug/barem4.m4. 3:1 may be
overkill, but I think 2:1 would not be unreasonable.
Doug
On Sun, Jul 20, 2025 at 5:26 PM Warren Toomey via COFF <coff(a)tuhs.org> wrote:
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