code comments
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TheGreatAndPowerfulOz wrote:
what the code is doing but not why
Because "check for null so we don't get a NullReferenceException when we access the properties of someObj" would be so much better! :rolleyes:
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
Yeah, that's worse
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Indeedly!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
When no comments are actually better. :)
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When no comments are actually better. :)
Yep. My favorite:
// Declare variables
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
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Yep. My favorite:
// Declare variables
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
I prefer:
#region Private Members
// This should always start at 101 or kittens will die!
int thingy = 101;
#endregion:)
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
Well, you've got a lot of "developer" responses, so far, so how about I add a "someone who has to explain to your customers' developers why your developers are such @rseholes" response. You're absolutely right. Because there are a thousand reasons for checking for null values, there are a thousand things that could be added to expand on what the statement does, e.g.
/* check for null, because if someObj is null, then bad data has been received from DataReceiver */
if (someObj != null) {...}/* check for null because if someObj is not null, at this point, then something has gone wrong. Look for errs 132-189*/
if (someObj != null) {...}/* check for null because if someObj is null, then someSubObj is defective*/
if (someObj != null) {...}There's almost never an excuse for a line of doc that says exactly the same as the line of code. If the who/why/where/when/what is not needed, then the doc is not needed. If the who/why/where/when/what is needed, then the doc is needed, and just keep in mind that some other poor b*st*rd has to try and make your program useful.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Well, you've got a lot of "developer" responses, so far, so how about I add a "someone who has to explain to your customers' developers why your developers are such @rseholes" response. You're absolutely right. Because there are a thousand reasons for checking for null values, there are a thousand things that could be added to expand on what the statement does, e.g.
/* check for null, because if someObj is null, then bad data has been received from DataReceiver */
if (someObj != null) {...}/* check for null because if someObj is not null, at this point, then something has gone wrong. Look for errs 132-189*/
if (someObj != null) {...}/* check for null because if someObj is null, then someSubObj is defective*/
if (someObj != null) {...}There's almost never an excuse for a line of doc that says exactly the same as the line of code. If the who/why/where/when/what is not needed, then the doc is not needed. If the who/why/where/when/what is needed, then the doc is needed, and just keep in mind that some other poor b*st*rd has to try and make your program useful.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
I am one of the other poor b*st*rd now. The original developers think their code is so beautiful and wonderful that no comment is needed to explain. They think I should ask if I do not understand. It will take longer than my lifetime to finish project this way.
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I prefer:
#region Private Members
// This should always start at 101 or kittens will die!
int thingy = 101;
#endregion:)
:laugh: :laugh:
My blog - www.FaceLaptop.com
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
I really dislike code comments in general[^] X| Currently, I have a coworker who writes comments like:
// Declare a variable.
int i;
// Assign the variable.
i = 42;He doesn't do it all the time, but such comments are common practice. Learn to friggin code so you don't have to remind yourself of how to declare and assign a friggin variable! :mad:
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
Not everybody can be a master of the obvious. :-)
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns. -
I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
Well, gosh ... if I only had a Baht (about 2.86 US cents) for every time I've written: if(whatever != null) ... However, is it, perhaps, useful to distinguish two scenarios: 1. checking for null when there's no need to throw an error if the whatever is null, and, the code context makes it absolutely clear what's going on. 2. checking for null when you absolutely should throw an error on null I recognize there are "purists" who would like to see you throw errors in all cases. And, how about this: disclaimer: _this is an experiment I did a while ago; I am not indirectly expressing the opinion that anyone should use something like th_is:
public static class ErrorExtensions
{
// non-generic version of 'IsNonNull omitted here// note: uses optional compiler directive 'ErrorsToConsole public static bool IsNonNull<T>(this T refobj, bool throwerror = false, string message = null) where T : class { if (refobj == null) { string mess = string.Format("instance of {0} is null: {1}",typeof(T).Name, message); if (throwerror) { throw new NullReferenceException(mess); } else {#if ErrorsToConsole
Console.WriteLine(mess);
#endif
}return false; } return true; }}
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
I prefer this style of coding
try
{
someObj.SomeMethod();
}
catch (Exception)
{
Response.Redirect("http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=Object+reference+not+set+to+an+instance+of+an+object&sbo=qa");
} -
TheGreatAndPowerfulOz wrote:
what the code is doing but not why
Because "check for null so we don't get a NullReferenceException when we access the properties of someObj" would be so much better! :rolleyes:
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
LMAO at this one. +24
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I prefer this style of coding
try
{
someObj.SomeMethod();
}
catch (Exception)
{
Response.Redirect("http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=Object+reference+not+set+to+an+instance+of+an+object&sbo=qa");
}Here we go :). After so many years of coding, I've learned to cull back on the wordiness of the code. Still, I have a few wonder brothers who "read code so fluently" that things get opaque pretty quick. I try to stay away from the "//declare variables" nonsense and lean toward higher level explanations of code blocks. One thing that *will* set me off is when people don't use version control. So, you'll get interspersed lines of code that are commented out with new lines of code that fix a problem. One leaves this in the source in case if you need to remember what you changed. FFS, use "show changes".
Charlie Gilley Do not forget Jacques Hamel "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Well, gosh ... if I only had a Baht (about 2.86 US cents) for every time I've written: if(whatever != null) ... However, is it, perhaps, useful to distinguish two scenarios: 1. checking for null when there's no need to throw an error if the whatever is null, and, the code context makes it absolutely clear what's going on. 2. checking for null when you absolutely should throw an error on null I recognize there are "purists" who would like to see you throw errors in all cases. And, how about this: disclaimer: _this is an experiment I did a while ago; I am not indirectly expressing the opinion that anyone should use something like th_is:
public static class ErrorExtensions
{
// non-generic version of 'IsNonNull omitted here// note: uses optional compiler directive 'ErrorsToConsole public static bool IsNonNull<T>(this T refobj, bool throwerror = false, string message = null) where T : class { if (refobj == null) { string mess = string.Format("instance of {0} is null: {1}",typeof(T).Name, message); if (throwerror) { throw new NullReferenceException(mess); } else {#if ErrorsToConsole
Console.WriteLine(mess);
#endif
}return false; } return true; }}
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
IsNotNull? Also, you should not be purposely throwing an error from an extension method, as part of some divine plan. Just check if it is null or not, that is all. Leave the implementation to the calling party - this helps with code reuse (I may not want to do a
console.writeline). My 2 unsolicited cents on your post. :-D -
IsNotNull? Also, you should not be purposely throwing an error from an extension method, as part of some divine plan. Just check if it is null or not, that is all. Leave the implementation to the calling party - this helps with code reuse (I may not want to do a
console.writeline). My 2 unsolicited cents on your post. :-DChrist! Can't you read? He wants 2.86 cents.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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I prefer this style of coding
try
{
someObj.SomeMethod();
}
catch (Exception)
{
Response.Redirect("http://www.codeproject.com/search.aspx?q=Object+reference+not+set+to+an+instance+of+an+object&sbo=qa");
} -
I hate code comments that say what the code is doing but not why.
/* check for null */
if (someObj != null) {...}Really? Argh!
#SupportHeForShe Government can give you nothing but what it takes from somebody else. A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you've got, including your freedom.-Ezra Taft Benson You must accept 1 of 2 basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not alone. Either way, the implications are staggering!-Wernher von Braun
What's more disturbing is that C# *still* doesn't allow this:
if (!someObj) {...}
which would preclude them from having to come up with the bullsh|t "?" operator.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
I really dislike code comments in general[^] X| Currently, I have a coworker who writes comments like:
// Declare a variable.
int i;
// Assign the variable.
i = 42;He doesn't do it all the time, but such comments are common practice. Learn to friggin code so you don't have to remind yourself of how to declare and assign a friggin variable! :mad:
Read my (free) ebook Object-Oriented Programming in C# Succinctly. Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles here on CodeProject.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. — Edsger W. Dijkstra
Regards, Sander
