On 17 May 2013 13:46, stephane ducasse <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with you. > > Methods should be commented!!!! > indeed.. i like reading nice comments.., much less than writing them, however :)
nice point that comments must focus on answering "why" but not "how" > > On May 17, 2013, at 1:27 PM, dimitris chloupis <[email protected]> wrote: > > I really enjoy smalltalk, every small thing that I discover every day. > > But there is one thing that really annoys me. The bold claim that small > functions do not need comments. > There is of course a level of truth that when a function/methods is well > formated and follows the common logic > rules of readable code a comment should not be needed for what it takes 10 > lines or less of code to explain. > > But then that is also an illusion. > > The problem is that the code never explains the why. And why can be very > important in understanding the code. > Also a big issue I have with smalltalk in general. All this spaggeti mess I > see unfold before my eyes in every library I see. > One method calling another method which calls (excuse me, I should have said > "sends a message") another and before > you know you forget where you started and where is the end. Its the > definition of Code Labyrinth. All this hectic browsing > around could have been avoided so easily with a single comment. > > Its those moments you beg for a comment or some documentation. > > So my message to this list is to express my discomfort on this and ask > > Is it me or is this a really bad code practice afterall ? > > I am new to smalltalk so maybe I miss something or maybe things get easier > in the future with more experience. > But something it tells me inside that I will never get used to this , maybe > I will learn to tolerate it , but its so far away from > my way of thinking I dont think it has much chance into integrating in my > brain. > > The thing is that I am quite the opposite , I am a comment and documentation > freak. You may think I do it just to be > awared the oscar of amazing readable coding but nothing can be further from > the truth. I may be coding for 25 years now > but it was never something serious , I am no pro and certainly not a serious > coder. I just like to mess around with code, thats all. > > For me its a matter of survivability , if I dont comment or document I will > quickly forget why I code these things anyway. > Its so easy for me to forget and be confused and I find in this case > smalltalk code is not as forging to coders like me. > > So I would like to hear you thoughts on this as much more experience > smalltalk coders than me. > > I would like to note here that I am also a big fan of small methods and that > my question is not related to whether methods > should be kept small and readable but whether comments are really needed for > those methods. > > -- Best regards, Igor Stasenko.
