Question

What are some of the arguments for and against commenting code while it is being written versus coming back later to write all the comments? How about writing comments before writing code?

Answer 1

I think writing comments while coding is EXTREMELY important, but that shouldn’t preclude you from going back later and clarifying things.

Writing comments while coding

• You probably won’t go back and do it later.
• You probably won’t remember why you did what you did.
• It’s a good idea to “cite your sources” if you had to research a technique or algorithm.

Writing comments after coding

• You’ll be looking at the code from a fresh perspective, perhaps with more insight into which parts are not very clear.