Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!elroy!cit-vax!jerbil
From: jerbil@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (Stainless Steel Gerbil [Joe Beckenbach])
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Evolving Comment Styles
Message-ID: <9674@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>
Date: 21 Feb 89 19:17:27 GMT
Reply-To: jerbil@cit-vax.caltech.edu (Stainless Steel Gerbil [Joe Beckenbach])
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Lines: 24


	As I was following the thread of discussion about comments and
'good coding style' with regards to these, I thought of a neat little shift
which I think embodies what this facet of software engineering should head
towards: not "self-documenting code" but "self-coding documents".

	The Hyper-Programming idea thrown out by one participant gives the 
right slant: combining the documentation, graphics, and code into a more
comprehensive source. I'm not saying that this type of environment is for
everyone [heck, it'll have trouble fitting onto most of the current computers,
which are smaller than the Vax I'm working on]; it's just that this concept
brings the commentary, the documentation, and the human-readable context of
the code in question [including design!] into a spotlight where the driving
expression behind the code can be given at several levels and in several
forms. I'm getting ready to go back and help work on some code I wrote last
summer; at the time I thought I was writing enough comments and documentation;
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have quite a surprise when I start trying to
correct my misunderstandings of my own code.

	Just my two cents and a new twist on an 'old' viewpoint.
-- 
Joe Beckenbach	joe@csvax.caltech.edu	Caltech 256-80, Pasadena CA 91125
Users I'd like to see:
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