Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

What's your take on the difference between explaining how code works and describing what it does?

I only ask because of bits like the TCP rate estimator sometimes have step by step comments that might be interpreted as explaining how the code is doing something.

For example take the app limited detection function: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/net/ipv4/tcp_r...



My take is that step by step commented explanations make sense when it's something either extremely complicated or making use of a system or tech that's not widely known.

Otherwise, clearer code, smaller methods and better variable/method names are the way to go imo.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: