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From: seebs@solutions.solon.com (Peter Seebach)
Subject: Re: The Last Word on Comments (was Re: Hungarian notation)
Date: 1996/07/12
Message-ID: <4s5mpj$2pp@solutions.solon.com>#1/1
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references: <31bf6e29.185297643@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov>
 <dewar.836014702@schonberg> <4s3397$9ih@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us>
 <4s4gbf$5fm@news.ld.centuryinter.net>
organization: Usenet Fact Police (Undercover)
reply-to: seebs@solon.com
newsgroups: 
 comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.modula3,comp.lang.modula2,comp.edu,comp.lang.eiffel
Date: 1996-07-12T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


In article <4s4gbf$5fm@news.ld.centuryinter.net>,
 <steidl@centuryinter.net> wrote:
>Come on.  What "apparent authority of comments"?  Even newbies know
>that comments do not affect program behavior.

I would contest this.  I've seen empty programs handed in, because the
only way to get the compiler to accept the code was to put everything in
comments.

(Well, I haven't, but my coworker who used to teach has.)

I would agree that *most* newbies know that comments do not affet program
behavior.

>The long, drawn-out mental blocks punctuated by periods of
>conceptual slippage and turbulance one goes through in these types of
>situations will *never* be matched by a mere comment.  And yes, even
>working code can induce this most interesting affect.

I think this is one of the reasons the IOCCC survives; it *is* an interesting
effect, and it can be enjoyable, if it's not affecting something you need to
have working.

I think the common fascination with code which looks very different from what
it does is the moral equivalent of punning; the same sorts of people seem to
like it.

(It also makes for great April Fools' jokes.  You should see the responses I
got to a posted program containing
	scanf, "3", "%d", i;
...)

-s
-- 
Peter Seebach - seebs@solon.com - Copyright 1996 - http://www.solon.com/~seebs
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