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=1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID,
	MSGID_RANDY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,e94a7e4f6f888766
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
From: Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com>
Subject: Re: Comments (was: Self-referential types)
Date: 1999/10/23
Message-ID: <7ur1gn$q5h$1@nnrp1.deja.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 539354846
References: <7ttb4a$8mq$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <s04ql7cqh1s45@corp.supernews.com>
 <3802f2db_2@news1.prserv.net> <3803B5E3.F96A6DD4@mitre.org>
 <3803c8bc_2@news1.prserv.net> <3804E7E0.6A0265FB@mitre.org>
 <Pine.BSF.4.10.9910132009020.18305-100000@shell5.ba.best.com>
 <38077EB3.E6911567@mitre.org> <slrn80fl9f.68j.aidan@skinner.demon.co.uk>
 <380CA5AC.82499FE2@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com> <7um9ji$dor$1@nnrp1.deja.com>
 <380F2BA5.1EEE15F1@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com>
 <Pine.A41.3.96-heb-2.07.991021191504.30582K-100000@pluto.mscc.huji.ac.il>
X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x32.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 205.232.38.14
Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy.
X-Article-Creation-Date: Sat Oct 23 01:03:20 1999 GMT
X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDrobert_dewar
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.04 [en] (OS/2; I)
Date: 1999-10-23T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

In article
<Pine.A41.3.96-heb-2.07.991021191504.30582K-100000@pluto.mscc.hu
ji.ac.il>,
  Ehud Lamm <mslamm@mscc.huji.ac.il> wrote:
>4. Don't put in too many comments in the code. I want tov be
able to see
>the code itself. Do not have comments like "loop from 1 to 10"
- I can
>read the code. Comments SHOULD appear at the start of logical
sections
>(those that have a specific functionality).

I think this is dangerous advice to students, since they hate
commenting,
and a suggestion that puts the don't in front of the "do" here
is upside
down. Over-commenting is easily correctable, a life long
aversion to
writing any comments, which seems to aflict many programmers, is
hard
or impossible to cure. At first students will tend to over
comment a bit,
because they don't understand the code as well as you do, but I
think it is
a tactical mistake to step on that tendency to early on.

>5. Use a coding convention that distinguishes types/variables
and
>constants. I suggest name like "Student_Record" for variables
(first
>letter capitalized), names like MAXSTUDENT fro constants, and
names like
>student_record_type for types. But you may choose you own.
After you
>choose, stick to one standard.

I do not consider this helpful at all, and I particularly
dislike the
C-style all caps for constants. So I agree with Ted here. I
don't
think that arbitrary rules like this are the least bit helpful

   X : Universal_Integer_Type;

is ugly, when obviously the name Universal_Integer is a noun
that is just
right for use as a type name.


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.