From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10ad19,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10ad19,public X-Google-Thread: 107a89,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid107a89,public X-Google-Thread: 101deb,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid101deb,public X-Google-Thread: 11440e,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10a146,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid10a146,public X-Google-Thread: 1073c2,23963231b5359f74 X-Google-Attributes: gid1073c2,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-14 06:22:26 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed.cwix.com!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!iad-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ruby,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.awk,comp.lang.clarion,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.vrml References: <9f8b7b$h0e$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9f8r0i$lu3$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9fgagu$6ae$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9fjgha$blf$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <35mqhtkdfma2rggv1htcaq6vfn2ihs67a1@4ax.com> <3B1E1452.BAFAAB7F@baesystems.com> <3B1E4B93.7FB8A94D@lmtas.lmco.com> <3B1F3704.C7E0D03A@brighton.ac.uk> <3b20d633$8$fuzhry$mr2ice@va.news.verio.net> <3B20EDAC.5A4F7BD4@home.com> <3b27569c$1$fuzhry$mr2ice@va.news.verio.net> <3B27AD17.DF50BDED@home.com> From: "Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz" Subject: Re: Commenting code Mail-Copies-To: nobody Organization: Atid/2 X-Cise: "Tony Schliesser" X-CompuServe-Customer: Yes X-Coriate: NCAE@NewAmerica.org X-Ecrate: Bob Germer X-Punge: Micro$oft X-Sanguinate: themvsguy@email.com X-Terminate: SPA(GIS) Message-ID: <3b28b178$7$fuzhry$mr2ice@va.news.verio.net> X-Newsreader: MR/2 Internet Cruiser Edition for OS/2 v2.28a/28 Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 08:43:36 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.55.10.86 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verio.net X-Trace: iad-read.news.verio.net 992524944 206.55.10.86 (Thu, 14 Jun 2001 13:22:24 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 13:22:24 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ruby:10580 comp.lang.ada:8719 comp.lang.awk:3051 comp.lang.clarion:21907 comp.lang.java.programmer:76295 comp.lang.pl1:1020 comp.lang.vrml:3790 Date: 2001-06-14T08:43:36-04:00 List-Id: In <3B27AD17.DF50BDED@home.com>, on 06/13/2001 at 06:13 PM, "Donald L. Dobbs" said: >Of course "increment the accumulator with carry" as a comment doesn't >tell me anything more than I can already discern by looking at the >code. The point I'm trying to make is that I am handed some assembly >language code written by someone else in a different country in a >different time zone who is a junior programmer and didn't do a decent >job of documenting his program. He's generally unavailable and >uncooperative. [This is an actual case.] His code has a bug in it. I >have to fix it on my own. Unless there is some documentation >somewhere (preferably near the code) that tells what the program is >SUPPOSED to do and the rationale of his code as how he implemented a >solution, my job really becomes tough because I have no baseline. I >can look at the code and see what bit fiddling it actually does. But >is that what it is supposed to be doing? Properly documented code >allows me to get to the heart of the problem rapidly; otherwise it >becomes a big job of reverse engineering. None of which has anything to do with assembler language per se; the same consideerations apply to Ada, BASIC, COBOL, FORTRAN, ICON, LISP, PERL, SETL or whatever. -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT Atid/2 Team OS/2 Team PL/I Any unsolicited commercial junk E-mail will be subject to legal action. I reserve the right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail. I mangled my E-mail address to foil automated spammers; reply to domain acm dot org user shmuel to contact me. Do not reply to spamtrap@library.lspace.org -----------------------------------------------------------