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Feature
Comments on Comments
Exploring the benefits of better commenting
Issue: 7.2 (January/February 2009)
Author: Marc Zeedar
editor-at-rbdeveloper.com
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 24,502
Starting Page Number: 18
RBD Number: 7209
Resource File(s): None
Related Link(s): None
Known Limitations: None
Excerpt of article text...
One of my first puzzlements when learning to program in BASIC a couple decades ago was the bizarrely-named REM command. REM apparently allowed you to add a "remark" about the code -- any text following the word REM was ignored when the code was executed. This seemed useless to me except for vanity: almost all BASIC programs back in those days began with a few comments that listed the name of the program, the author, and the copyright. Other than that, what good were comments?
I've come a long way since those heady days, but I still struggle with comments. Comments are like flossing -- a healthy habit most people don't do often enough.
We all know that comments can be helpful. If you've ever seen a well-commented program you know that the comments help make what's going on more clear. If you've ever looked at non-commented code -- even of one of your own projects -- and been bewildered, you know the pain of not having good comments.
But if we know the benefits of comments, why don't programmers comment more?
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Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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