Re:'Women write more expressive, sensitive code'
by olavk on Tuesday June 10, 2008 @06:16AM
(#213727)
It really depends on what kind of code you are writing. If you are writing a component or framework with a public API to be consumed by others, it is very important to document methods throughly. I agree that the code itself should be as clear and understandable as possible, and a superfluous comment is worse than no comment - DRY.
However the more complex and clever the code get, the more you need comments. Note that Knuth, one of the smartest and manliest programmers, invented literate programming.
We have no idea whether the woman in question demand stupid superfluous rote comments, or rather want well-documented API's or literate code ala Knuth.
BTW. I think the Inquirers slant on the article is clearly sexist, but also that she brought it upon herself by framing the issue in terms of men vs woman.
However the more complex and clever the code get, the more you need comments. Note that Knuth, one of the smartest and manliest programmers, invented literate programming.
We have no idea whether the woman in question demand stupid superfluous rote comments, or rather want well-documented API's or literate code ala Knuth.
BTW. I think the Inquirers slant on the article is clearly sexist, but also that she brought it upon herself by framing the issue in terms of men vs woman.