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From: ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>)
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Subject: Re: Python
Date: 4 Mar 2026 20:01:16 GMT
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In article <10o9mre$327a7$3@dont-email.me>,
Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 18/12/2025 12.00, Richard Kettlewell wrote:
>> Peter Flass <Peter@Iron-Spring.com> writes:
>>> I comment *A LOT*. When I had to go back and revisit some very old
>>> code, I wished I had commented more. I've almost never looked at a
>>> program and said "I wish it had fewer comments."
>> 
>> Regrettably, I’ve encountered plenty of comments that don’t actually
>> reflect the code (for a variety of reasons).
>> 
>> If the code is wrong and the comment is right then that’s great, you
>> have a nice hint about how to fix the code, assuming you realize there’s
>> a problem at all.
>> 
>> However if the code is right but the comment is wrong then the comment
>> is worse than nothing. The code would be improved by removing it
>> (although almost certainly improved even more by correcting it).
>
>I encountered a perverse version of that. My (US) employer was purchased
>by a German firm. We began adapting their code base for NAFTA market
>requirements. The good news was that every comment was written twice:
>once in German and once in English.
>
>The bad news? I knew enough German to be able to tell that the two paired
>comments sometimes disagreed on what was being done or how it was done.
>

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quite sure...
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