Re: SPAM: Writing Comprehensible Code

One of the things I would have loved is a limited version of operator 
overload. I can understand why the original Java inventors added "+" for 
Strings (who wants to write concat() all the time) but allowing it for any 
class would lead to the abuses frequently seen in C++. However extending 
the Number class or more flexibly, implementing a Numeric interface, to 
allow operator overload would be nice. While the interface version could 
be abused fairly easily, extending Number should be fairly controllable. 
Autoboxing should reduce my desire for operator overload but I strongly 
suspect I will continue to miss it.

BTW even though I am not an Xtreme programmer I too believe that the code 
is the ultimate documentation. The number of times I've seen the doco 
missing, out of date or just plain wrong (and that includes inline 
comments and javadoc) is incredible. Maintenance programmers will 
generally find more often than not that the doco is useless.

Michael Rutherfurd

Charles Forsythe <[email protected]> wrote on 14/10/2004 08:57:15 PM:

> 
> luca wrote:
> 
> >for eXtreme Programmers code is the ultimate documentation,
> >so it does have to be comprehensible
> >
> I guess I should have included a :-)  -- the comment about "we wouldn't 
> call it code" is a "geek humor" standard along the lines of "BASIC is a 
> bug with syntax," or "Strong typing is for people with weak memories."
> 
> One of the design goals of COBOL was that the statements resemble plain 
> English for the very reason of having the code be its own 
> documentation.  So, instead of:
> 
>     foo += bar
> 
> You'd have:
> 
>     ADD BAR TO FOO
> 
> (Or something like that.)  Java code that follows common naming and 
> formatting conventions is almost always comprehensible.  It annoys me 
> when people compare Java to C++ in this regard.  Consider the "foo += 
> bar" expression above; you don't have to look far to determine _exactly_ 

> what statement does.  In C++, it could literally do anything, and 
> finding out what could take a considerable effort.
> 
> -- Charles

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