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Re: Why not contribute? (to GCC)
On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 17:12, Richard Kenner
<kenner@vlsi1.ultra.nyu.edu> wrote:
> I there's no substitute for proper comments.
Oh I agree!
However, I proffer that the need to write a comment is often an
indication for the need to write the code better (and to choose
another programming language).
> good code can't give the SPECIFICATIONS of a function...
This may largely be a sign that the formal language is not expressive
enough; in particular, the language should at least try to support
abstraction formally (hence, binary < assembly < C < C++).
Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go before our formal
languages are capable enough to replace comments significantly.
> Also, an important thing to put in comments is WHY something
> is done the way it is and (more importantly) why it ISN'T done
> another way. No amount of good quality code can contain that
> information.
Indeed!