> Now, I only know that comments in block closures are placed behind the > block code. > Do you know more examplmes where the formatter still misplaces the comment.
Maybe just comments now? I've added a formatting configuration that preserved vertical white space (and I believe also comment position, because I used to write inline comments), but I think it was lost during migration to BlueInk. But I'll have a look. On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 5:32 PM, Jimmie Houchin <jlhouc...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 05/17/2016 01:40 AM, Peter Uhnák wrote: > > As a note, maybe try to avoid inline comments unless formatter is fixed, > because autoformatting _will_ misplace them. (Not to mention that imho > inline comments in Smalltalk are a result of a bad design… if you need an > inline comment, maybe turn that into actual code). > > > I disagree with the comment about inline comments being bad design. At > least as a broadly applied as the above was. > > Comments often say "Why" we did something. Code says "How" or "What" we > are doing. I have encountered many times where if I did not have a comment > for the "Why". Then at a later date when I don't remember the "Why". I > encounter code that looks strange and I am tempted to refactor and > consequently would introduce bugs. > This doesn't necessarily dispute my point. If you need to have inline comments then you are most likely doing in the method more then you should, otherwise you can just put the intent in the method comment. Of course in real world we have looooong methods in both ancient and (unfortunately) new systems, and adding a comment is better then nothing. Assuming of course, that the comment is correct… because a wrong or misleading comment can do more harm than good… that's why I _personally_ (thus the imho in the original note) prefer code over comments. Because code is what actually happens. And finally I rarely (unless the method is a real mess) have problem understanding a single method (I can poke it, look at tests, go through the code, ...). What I usually lack is high-level overview that would tell me how the system overall works. That you cannot read from method (or class) comments. > Right now I am working on parsing a bunch of xml files. Third party data > sources. > Is it XML or XMI? Couple of weeks back a wrote a simple utility for Synectique to help with analyzing and processing XMI files. Maybe it could help you a bit https://github.com/peteruhnak/xmi-analyzer ? > There is ugliness in the world. I have to clean the ugliness in order to > be able to parse the files. There is no option if I want to do this. I have > no control over the sources. I am not interested in engaging outside > bureaucratic policies and people in order to change their procedures and > policies so that I can have better sources. How often would I be willing to > fight this losing battle. > > The only solution is to do ugly things, for good reasons and comment them > well. So that I know not just what I did, but why. > > I also believe there is some conflicting policy in the code critic or > whatever is telling me my method is too long. > > I have frequently written methods that had a few temp vars with nice > informative names. and the method is involved enough to use these vars > multiple times. I get this nice information informing me my method is long. > Or in Pharo4 going yellow and then red. :) > > However many times if I made these vars short, like x, y, z. Then the > method is a perfectly fine length. Ugh. I am then being punished for length > of names. I have seen this a lot. > Well Code Critic doesn't force you to do all these things. But every time you transgress the rule you should consider whether it's worth it. (And maybe even auto-ignore the rule.) > In any case, there are no guidelines afaik… otherwise we would have > comments everywhere already. :) > > > Not necessarily. People are busy. Sometimes getting working code out is > more important than commenting it well. > > For example. And I am not saying this is true. It is simply and example. > While pressure is mounting to release Pharo 5. The few over worked people > involved in that final process. Finishing up the final things, might be > pragmatic and let working code go without comments. Or in some similar > situation by a code contributor. > > Then their are people like myself and Dimitris who might not feel > confident in submitting comments for some of these areas without > appropriate guidelines. We want to improve the situation not make bad > examples of what not to do. :) > > Just some of my opinions. > And finally there is never one rule that would fit all, and any guideline or whatever will find an edge case. But Pharo is moving fast… so I don't see why you wouldn't feel confident about commenting. The worst case scenario is that something breaks and we have a chance to learn something from the mistake. Peter > > > Jimmie > > > Perhaps one thing regarding class comments: There was a push to use PIllar > there if you need formatting, but I am not sure what is the current status > of that. > > Peter > > On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 12:04 AM, Dimitris Chloupis < > <kilon.al...@gmail.com>kilon.al...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I really like to start writing some class and method comments to make >> Pharo image more beginner friendly. Are there any guidelines when and how >> to comment classes and methods ? What about inline comments ? >> > > >
