If your code needs comments, it's either because it's unnecessarily complex/convoluted, or because there's more thought in it (e.g. complex mathematic operations, or edge-cases etc.). Comments just often don't age well IME, and when people are "forced" to read the (hopefully readable) code, they will more likely understand what is really happening, and the relevant design decisions.

Good video I really recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf7vDBBOBUA

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago (6 children)

I’ve seen code that look like this:

int delay = 15 * 60; // 10 minutes

Even if the comment was on the same line someone forgot to update it. People just ignore comments.

Better solution is to write (in C#):

TimeSpan delay = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(15)

Much more obvious what the code actually means.

[–] CCatMan@lemmy.one 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Is the better way is a runtime performance hit. Does the compiler optimize this?

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It’s probably a little bit slower, but there are other things more worth to optimize than to shave off a few microseconds from a 15 minute delay.

[–] CCatMan@lemmy.one 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, it adds up eventually when working with embedded platforms, but for PC stuff I agree.

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

If you’re working in embedded I guess you can probably make an inline function or a macro so it’s taken care of at compile time.

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