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Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion.

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On 2014-06-16, Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> wrote:
>> When I read code, I don't want to spend my time going back and
>> forth between the code and the comment.
>
> A key point is that most of the time there will be no going back
> and forth because developers familiar with the code don't need to
> read the comments and won't read them.  Putting comments inside
> function bodies optimizes the 10% case at the expense of the 90%
> case (or maybe 20/80, but whatever - clearly the balance favors
> the second mode over the first).

You can put small "footnotes" into the code like /* 2 */, which reference
numbered points in a block comment elsewhere, perhaps above the function.

I followed this practice for a while more than fifteen years ago;
it works well.

It is based on the equivalent practice in text, because the issue is
essentially the same: we want to concentrate on the main idea, but need to give
background notes without cluttering it to those who are interested or who
require them.

The thing is, if code needs that many footnotes, maybe it's badly written.
These days I only write an in-line comment when there is something very tricky
going on (and usually such a thing is written by someone else, and I'm
add the comment after spending considerable time reverse engineering
the purpose of the statements which follow, so that someone doesn't have
to do it again after me.

E.g. /* This flag is being set here so that the when
the foo function is invoked in situation q out of function
bar, it will avoid taking actions x y z. */

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C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Christos Kokaliaris <chrisk.msor@gmail.com> - 2014-06-09 12:12 -0700
  Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Christos Kokaliaris <chrisk.msor@gmail.com> - 2014-06-09 12:41 -0700
    Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Barry Schwarz <schwarzb@dqel.com> - 2014-06-09 13:16 -0700
    Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-12 09:08 -0700
      Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-12 16:35 +0000
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-13 07:27 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2014-06-14 00:13 +0000
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-16 07:07 -0700
              Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2014-06-16 20:04 +0000
                Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-17 08:56 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-16 12:53 +0000
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-16 08:00 -0700
              Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-06-16 16:01 +0000
                Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-17 08:24 -0700
              Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-18 10:50 +0000
                Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-26 19:07 -0700
  Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-06-09 19:51 +0000
  Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2014-06-09 20:15 +0000
  Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Christos Kokaliaris <chrisk.msor@gmail.com> - 2014-06-09 13:21 -0700
  Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-09 13:39 -0700
    Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-09 21:23 +0000
      Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-06-09 21:43 +0000
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-10 00:17 +0000
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-06-10 11:13 +0100
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-10 07:38 -0700
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-10 10:23 +0000
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Dr Nick <nospam-4@temporary-address.org.uk> - 2014-06-10 18:55 +0100
      Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-09 15:14 -0700
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-10 00:21 +0000
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. James Kuyper <jameskuyper@verizon.net> - 2014-06-09 21:37 -0400
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-10 07:45 -0700
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-11 01:32 -0700
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Cal Dershowitz <Cal@example.invalid> - 2014-06-09 23:14 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-10 10:14 +0000
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-06-10 22:06 +0300
              Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-11 16:16 +0000
                Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-06-11 16:47 +0000
                Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Phil Carmody <thefatphil_demunged@yahoo.co.uk> - 2014-06-11 20:50 +0300
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. raltbos@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) - 2014-06-11 16:16 +0000
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2014-06-10 08:23 -0600
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-10 10:12 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-12 08:39 -0700
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2014-06-12 12:30 -0500
        Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Seungbeom Kim <musiphil@bawi.org> - 2014-06-10 23:34 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Tim Rentsch <txr@alumni.caltech.edu> - 2014-06-11 00:35 -0700
          Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org> - 2014-06-11 08:35 -0700
            Re: C Programming Language 2nd Ed, Exercise 1.9 and 1.12, Solution suggestion. Kaz Kylheku <kaz@kylheku.com> - 2014-06-11 15:49 +0000

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