Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!gatech!ncar!ico!vail!rcd
From: rcd@ico.ISC.COM (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: C source lines in file
Summary: reductio ad absurdum
Message-ID: <16027@vail.ICO.ISC.COM>
Date: 21 Aug 89 23:02:41 GMT
References: <6500@pdn.paradyne.com> <1658@naucse.UUCP>
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp, Boulder, CO
Lines: 16

In article <1658@naucse.UUCP>, jdc@naucse.UUCP (John Campbell) writes:
[discussion about the purpose of counting, significance of comments, etc.
deleted]
> ...I, for one, think the comments are the only valid part of the
> code--what if the language changes or a better algorithm is found...

The BS alarm just went off!  When we talk about software engineering, it's
easy to get so wrapped up in platitudes that we say things that only make
sense if we don't think about them.  Good comments are right up there with
motherhood and apple pie, but it's the code that gets compiled and shipped!
The code is, after all, the part that describes the algorithm precisely;
comments are an aid to understanding it.  The code is also the part that
gets checked for consistency, and gets tested.
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd@ico.isc.com    uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd     (303)449-2870
   ...Are you making this up as you go along?