
What is the best comment in source code you have ever encountered? - tszming
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered
======
edw519

      loop
        ...
        ...
        // sleep 10
        sleep 7 // Changed from "sleep 10" on 11-19-05
                // by jvj because Bruce in Buffalo bitched
                // that it ran too long.  Now he's happy.
                // The next time he bitches, change it to
                // "sleep 5".  That oughta buy us another
                // year before we have to rewrite it.
        ...
        ...
      until done do repeat

~~~
jeebusroxors
The speed up loop: <http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The-Speedup-Loop.aspx>

Although I guess the punchline has come before the "joke"...

------
kraynar
There's some great stuff in there. I really liked this one:

    
    
      // somedev1 -  6/7/02 Adding temporary tracking of Login screen
      // somedev2 -  5/22/07 Temporary my ass
    

([http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-
best-c...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-
in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered/778275#778275))

------
edanm
There are lost of great ones. I especially liked this _practical_ comment:

From the SO answer:

This seems to stop morons from messing my code...

// Autogenerated, do not edit. All changes will be undone.

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-
best-c...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-
in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered/740603#740603)

~~~
kd0amg
Then someone who's perhaps a bit too clever for his own good can introduce a
new script into the build process so it makes some changes after the file is
generated.

------
jacobbijani

        #Christmas tree initializer  
        toConnect = []  
        toRead =   [  ]  
        toWrite = [    ]   
        primes = [      ]  
        responses = {}  
        remaining = {}
    

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-
best-c...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-
in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered/780361#780361)

------
statictype

        char  program [1];/* Unwarranted chumminess with compiler. */
    

First by Dennis Ritchie in his regular expression implementation, and then
subsequently copied with the comment intact into all other regular expression
implementations ever written.

~~~
Jach
Reference for non-C hackers: <http://c-faq.com/struct/structhack.html>

------
10ren
I hate the way SO only remembers you for a week or two, so when you return,
you have to login, going to a separate screen and so on. Why do they have to
make it so hard? What's the advantage in forcing frequent logins?

Yeah, I know I should find some other StackExchange site, go there, create an
account there, login there, and post this complaint there - but you know,
that's just more of the same problem. </rant>

~~~
codinghorror
Er.. what? We can't reproduce this, and there are sites in the network I don't
visit very often, too.

Please note we did force logout globally, network-wide in April 2010 (to
mandate emails for Google GMail OpenIDs) and September 10th 2010 (to enable
global auth for all users).

Also, we delete any sessions older than 4 months as a matter of course.

So if you visit VERY infrequently, you might run into one of those.

Details:

<http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/04/openid-one-year-later/>
[http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/global-network-auto-
lo...](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/global-network-auto-login/)

------
nivertech

      /**
       * Today I'm getting discharged from the Army
       * Don't have time to properly comment the code
       * Call me if you have any questions: Name,054-XXXXXXX
       */

~~~
run4yourlives
Now that is dedication!

------
Vivtek
My favorite of all time was

    
    
      // Michael, this is brilliant!
    

Yeah, somebody else had complimented a change I'd made a few months earlier. I
still maintain that code occasionally, and it's the only comment left I didn't
write myself. I leave it there just to get that little ego boost every couple
of years.

------
byoung2
From an educational app:

if($_GET["action"] == "score") {//that's what she said

------
amalcon

      // I got this code from [Bob] of [Some other group].
      // I don't know how it works; ask him.
    

[Bob] happened to be my manager at the time, and hadn't worked for [Some other
group] for around five years.

------
ScottBurson
In a parser for a config file:

    
    
      if (line[0] == '#') continue;   // comment

------
superk
<http://www.dillerdesign.com/experiment/DD_belatedPNG/>

(a PNG-fix for IE6)

// PLEASE READ:

// Absolutely everything in this script is SILLY. I know this. IE's rendering
of certain pixels doesn't make sense, so neither does this code!

------
Calamitous

        // I have to put this part in because Ken is a dick

------
pmichaud
I once wrote a haiku to a particularly nasty bug where the offending line had
been. I got a call years later when someone found it, they appreciated the
humor.

------
jrockway
You are not expected to understand this.

------
m0nty
"This ain't pretty but neither are you."

------
jacquesm
/* Does your mother know you're reading this stuff? */

------
GBKS
// Don't even ask

Found years ago in Adobe's ActionScript core classes.

------
DiabloD3
You just obliterated like 3 hours of my time. Good job!

------
heseltine
This one: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-
best-c...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/184618/what-is-the-best-comment-
in-source-code-you-have-ever-encountered/184673#184673)

------
gcv
From xterm's main.c:

    
    
         /*
          * 				 W A R N I N G
          * 
          * If you think you know what all of this code is doing, you are
          * probably very mistaken.  There be serious and nasty dragons here.
          */

------
christefano
stop(); // Hammertime!

~~~
jackdaniels
I love it! :) The best one so far! I'm still laughing my ass off!

------
osopoderoso
""" This code will be documented when someone get convinced that it is
impossible to understand what it is doing """

------
neilk
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/straup/2801691670/>

------
superk
[http://textpattern.googlecode.com/svn/releases/4.2.0/source/...](http://textpattern.googlecode.com/svn/releases/4.2.0/source/textpattern/publish.php)

$html = parse($html); // the function so nice, he ran it twice

------
aaronbrethorst
Here's a category interface in a shipping iPhone app of mine:

    
    
        @interface UIScreen (AppleAreAssholes)
        + (CGRect) convertRect:(CGRect)rect toView:(UIView *)view;
        @end

------
nw
I once left a comment to the effect of

// This code is pretty dense so I recommend you read the documentation first

Some months later I found a follow-up comment left by a fellow dev:

// Or you could just give up now

------
tariq
# Do this twice because its stupid and won't work once

# I apologize for how messy this is. Blame it on an inconsistent database
structure. I did the best I could.

------
Scott_MacGregor
Good funny post, that was the best laugh I've had all day. Thanks!

------
waivej
while (6!=9) // Hendrix loop {...}

------
ghotli
try {

    
    
      ...
    

} catch exception {

// Failed to load in the proper way

// Attempting to wing it

...

}

------
carlos
the best comment is the empty one ;)

//

------
drewse
Maybe something like this...

//How's my coding?

//1-800-NO-ONE-CARES

Although I had trouble coming up with what to say in the phone number. Any
suggestions?

------
neilc
Not to be a grouch, but most of this seems puerile and borderline
irresponsible to me. Source code should be concise and beautiful, not a
repository for unfunny attempts at humor by programmers.

~~~
jsvaughan
I agree.

~~~
VladRussian
seems to be a good place to get "-4" karma

