Steve, When I referred to "standard or policy" I wasn't talking about something global or official. I was really talking about the standard a programmer would use to guide his own commenting style.
I actually am writing code, and I'm trying to find the balance between conciseness and legibility. I thought some fellow geowankers would have some insights that could help me with my own decisions about source code comments. This has proven to be the case. I apologize if I churned up the standard phobia. I should have used the work "style" instead of the word "standard or policy". This has generated a lot more talk than I thought it would. I have benefited from the different perspectives. Hopefully my FOSS GIS source code will be better for it. Landon -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of stephen white Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:21 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Geowanking] FOSS GIS Programming Style - Different Standard ForSource Code Comments On 22/02/2008, at 7:39 AM, Landon Blake wrote: > Do you think there should be a different standard or policy for > source code comments in code used in open source programs, in > comparison to that used in proprietary programs? Other people are answering your question about code standards, but I'll answer a different question. I don't think that there should be standards or policy regarding code, as nobody is going to pay attention to it anyway. People have been trying to create standards like VRML that have crashed and burned because the specifications outstripped the implementations and the specifications became increasingly difficult to maintain and lost their relevance in a changing world. I am repeatedly amazed at the number of people in here who keep trying to set up groups, create specifications, write documentation, write books, and do everything except actually work on GIS. Too many managers, not enough workers. Nobody wants to be the workers, so they set up committees, set up conferences, write articles, and never actually pull their finger out and set finger to keyboard (yeergh) for code. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
