Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!taumet!steve
From: steve@taumet.com (Stephen Clamage)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: One more point regarding = and == (more flamage)
Message-ID: <632@taumet.com>
Date: 23 Mar 91 19:15:48 GMT
References: <13603@helios.TAMU.EDU> <3182@inews.intel.com>
Organization: Taumetric Corporation, San Diego
Lines: 24

bhoughto@pima.intel.com (Blair P. Houghton) writes:

>Basically, if you're worth the meager pittance they direct-deposit
>into your debt with the Company Store, the comments will have
>existed long before you wrote the code.  Put those in, and make
>them accurate, and it doesn't matter how much the code obfuscates.

>It's called top-down design, and involves _thinking_ before
>you start making mistakes.

The compiler doesn't check comments, and there is never any guarantee
that a comment matches the adjoining code.  The code or the comment
may have been in error from the day it was written; the code may
have been changed without proper modification of the comment; the
comment may have been modified without proper modification of the code.

It is not enough to say that a programmer worth his pay ensures that
the comments are always present and correct.  My rejoinder is that
such a programmer should always think before making mistakes, and never
write incorrect code.  If you know any programmers like this who also
complete their programs, let me know; we have some job openings.
-- 

Steve Clamage, TauMetric Corp, steve@taumet.com