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Re: [OT] Commenting source code

On 8/30/03 9:37 PM, Camillo Lugaresi didst favor us with:

> At 22:29 -0400 29-08-2003, Laurence Harris wrote:
>> On 8/29/03 8:16 PM, Camillo Lugaresi didst favor us with:
>>
>>> At 16:45 +0200 28-08-2003, M. Uli Kusterer wrote:
>>>> Not to mention that C identifiers are usually named in English (so
>>>> they fit in with the ANSI library's name), while comments are almost
>>>> always written in the native language of the author.
>>>
>>> Ugh. That's so awkward! Comments ought to be written in English too.
>>>
>> I think identifiers should be in French accompanied by comments in English
>> and at least one other major language.
>>
>> Okay seriously, if you're going to write comments, they should be written in
>> the language in which you can communicate most effectively unless you know
>> there will be people reading who need another language. I can't begin to
>> think of a faster way to make comments useless than to write them in a
>> language in which you aren't fluent. This goes back to my position that a
>> comment which doesn't clarify anything is useless.
>
> My implicit premise was that you have to know English to be in this
> industry, so you should be able to write comments in English.

You're assuming way too much. Code may have to be written using ASCII
characters and a handful of English keywords, but the vocabulary of of a
programming language is extremely limited. There are lots of programming
resources available in other languages, and there are plenty of programmers
out there who can *read* enough English that along with other resources they
can code just fine. But reading a language is a lot easier than writing it.

> If you are not very fluent yet, consider it an exercise that will prove useful
> in the future. The added difficulty should also discourage you from writing
> unnecessary comments. ;D
>
Sorry, but I don't think anyone should have to become fluent in English to
write software, at least not if English isn't his native language.

Larry
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 >Re: [OT] Commenting source code (From: Camillo Lugaresi <email@hidden>)



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