SkyLuke
nixCraft 🐧junior dev: can you please give me an example of useful comments in my code?
Me: sure, good comments look like this ⤵️
mbeddedDev@nixCraft So true :D
Rewik@nixCraft No clue what a good comment looks like, most of mine are along the lines of "this is because device X with software version Y disregards spec and responds with frame Z instead of A"
Faraiwe
Alexander Knochel@nixCraft That feels like a bug, not a feature
Nicola@Quantensalat @nixCraft It's an AH-1, it's bugs all the way down
Dibs@nixCraft yikes...
SIEM Shady@nixCraft If anyone finds this scenario odd, it's because this gun uses percussion primed cartridges, and the cam moves the firing pins as it rotates through the track.
Some other guns use electrically primed cartridges, which require DC voltage be applied. Stray volts are a thing though, so still not totally safe if powered off.
Cassandrich
Madagascar_Sky@dalias @Madagascar_Sky @nixCraft This is actually a good example of defense in depth. It's highly unlikely it would always fire when loaded with rounds just before the firing position. There's likely an arming/safety pin too. It's just better to assume it will.
Tim McCormack@dalias @Madagascar_Sky @CDubbs Well boy, won't the randos be surprised when they walk up to the military equipment and start playing with it...
Richard Schneeman@nixCraft AI: “I have understood the dangers, I suggest using your feet to rotate the gun”
�
🐀 ␆@nixCraft Perfect metaphor. What I want to know was if the comment was added after the code's behavior was noted to have consequences unanticipated by the user.
Chris Bohn@walshman23 @nixCraft As the saying goes, Tech Orders are written in blood.
Though more often, Tech Orders are written in "This investigation concludes that SrA Snuffy is not responsible for the Class B mishap because they followed all procedures required by Tech Order XYZ and was not otherwise trained to prevent the circumstances that led to the mishap."
@nixCraft
Typically American point of view 😝
Typically American point of view 😝
@nixCraft one group of people will read this and think “I better not turn it or the gun will fire”, another group will read it and think “it can’t be that dangerous or they wouldn’t have told me to fire it by rotating it”. I’ve heard of the first group, never met them unfortunately.
Cyber Slayer@nixCraft every sign has a story: gatling gun edition
LP still can't spell Ainmhícon@nixCraft good comments explain if it does that on purpose, so you know if your "fix" to make it safer will actually break something else
(or to be boring and get away from the image, good comments answer "what were they even trying to *do* here?!", because The Code only tells you what they *actually* did)
EndlessMason@LionsPhil @nixCraft I'm pretty sure the unit tests explain if it does it on purpose or not
Rowan Tommins@EndlessMason @LionsPhil @nixCraft No, the unit tests explain if it's *always* done it, or if it's only just started.
Unit tests can be just as buggy as code, so you still need comments (or good naming) to explain the intent of *those*.
Your contention here is that there are tests that pass for a behaviour that's either not deliberate or is not correct.
If your test suite is like that you have bigger problems than somebody turning the gun and getting shot... you don't even know if the gun can do a get shot...
You're talking about a test suite that passes when they do get shot, or tests that pass when the gun jams.
@EndlessMason @LionsPhil @nixCraft
Yes. I'm talking about the real world, not a TDD textbook.
If you make a change and a test fails, is it a) because the test perfectly covers a requirement you hadn't accounted for; b) because the test implicitly covers the behaviour that you were intending to change; or c) because the test was just badly written, and relied on implementation details that don't actually matter?
Of course, comments and names can *also* be wrong, but they give you an extra clue as to what some previous developer *thought* both the code and the test were doing.
@LionsPhil Will do!
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIESnixcraft's point here is simple:
there's certain kinds of code that if you touch it it will kill you
Dusk to Don 
// Dear maintainer:
//
// Once you are done trying to 'optimize' this routine,
// and have realized what a terrible mistake that was,
// please increment the following counter as a warning
// to the next guy:
//
// total_hours_wasted_here = 42
Rasmus Lindegaard@nixCraft this is beautiful. Yoink!
<eleanor>@nixCraft so do you think the warning was before or after a bad mistake
Onno (VK6FLAB)
Dustin@nixCraft most comments:
// This is a thing
Mx Autumn 
@nixCraft I wonder what came first the warning or the accidental firing.
Ysegrim@carbontwelve @nixCraft Given that we are talking about humans: both.
Resolviendo la incógnita 🌐@nixCraft So feet are fine. 😃
Nate Vack 🍴@nixCraft I feel like there is also an API design lesson waiting in this image
Alex@nixCraft My favorite: // Thanks. I hate it.
Zuri (he/him) ❌️👑 | 🕐 CET@nixCraft Good comment, yet the placement is debatable
Ian@shaedrich I mean, it's placed in the spot you're going to do the most harm to yourself if you don't heed the warning.
@soviut Fair point 👍🏻
Curioso 🍉 🇺🇦 (jgg)Another proof that clear, self explanatory code is always better than a thousand comments.
Rolo Tomassi
@nixCraft it's a gatling-style rotary machine gun and the warning is printed on the "wrong" side of it, for the benefit of anyone trying to clean this thing or mess with it
~: Liera 
@nixCraft Kind of makes me want to spin it 
לָקס (לא לותור) لاكس🏴@nixCraft the kind of comments insurance forced you to put too late
Lena@nixCraft Governmental Hacker groups creating a new Stuxnets be like
rk: it’s hyphen-minus actuallyJAVASCRIPT TOWARD ENEMY
Vincent Cantin@nixCraft It's a warning and not an error - safe to ignore
Dreaming of dad jazz.
🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑@nixCraft
Henceforth I shall put that exact comment in all my.code.
Henceforth I shall put that exact comment in all my.code.
@nixCraft When I write temporary code such as migration code, I add a FIXME/TEMP comment, with the date it should be removed, and I include the YEAR in the date.
E-TARD The LifeCaster