From bb884ae993f409800ce9d2f4167e1c9819965760 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bob Mottram Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2015 17:13:54 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Self-documenting code --- entries/self-documenting-code.txt | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) create mode 100644 entries/self-documenting-code.txt diff --git a/entries/self-documenting-code.txt b/entries/self-documenting-code.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e121b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/entries/self-documenting-code.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ +self-documenting code + +The belief that with meaningful variable name choices and uncompromising +adherence to a coding style the need for comments written in natural +language (typically English) can be reduced towards zero. This belief +is in almost all cases false. Hackers are often under the impression +that what their code does is somehow immediately "obvious" to the +reader, but this is only the case if others think about the algorithmic +structure of problems in an identical manner, which in practice almost +never happens. Also see literate programming.