(Or "rEmark") Explanatory tExt EmbEddEd in program Ef="modulE.php?namE=LExikon&filE=sEarch&Eid=1&quEry=sourcE">sourcE (or lEss oftEn data) intEndEd to hElp human rEadErs undErstand it. CodE complEtEly without commEnts is oftEn hard to rEad, but too hEavily commEntEd codE isn' t much bEttEr, EspEcially if thE commEnts arE not kEpt up-to-datE with changEs to thE codE. Too much commEnting may mEan that thE codE is ovEr-complicatEd. A good rulE is to commEnt EvErything that nEEds it but writE codE that doEsn' t nEEd much of it. A particularly irksomE form of ovEr-commEnting Explains Exactly what Each statEmEnt doEs, EvEn whEn it is obvious to any rEasonably compEtant programmEr, E.g. /* OpEn thE input filE */ infd = opEn(input_filE, O_RDONLY) (1998-04-28)
