On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 5:10 AM, Julian Foad <julianfoad_at_btopenworld.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-10-29 at 05:04 -0700, Greg Stein wrote:
>> On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 4:48 AM, Julian Foad <julianfoad_at_btopenworld.com> wrote:
>> > On Tue, 2008-10-28 at 11:06 -0700, Greg Stein wrote:
>> >> Why is it horrible? How are you tracking that you need to research
>> >> these questions? Or maybe somebody else knows the answers.
>> >
>> > It's horrible to ask questions about the code by inserting them into the
>> > code
>> >
>> > 1. because it's a poor channel for discussion, it implies I have no
>> > more effective way to talk to colleagues, and useful changes to the code
>>
>> In short: you don't. And that is the problem that questions like that address.
>>
>> It's 5am here, so I'm not going to go on at length. But basically,
>> your alternatives in the rest of this email are all very less
>> effective than leaving those questions in there for others to see, be
>> wary of, to answer, or to remove because *they* know the answer is "no
>> problem".
>>
>> Removing the questions now implies that we have unknown potential
>> problems. Areas that you worked on but are NOT SURE that you got
>> right, but there is no documentation for that fact. Other than in your
>> head. And that is an awful state for us to be in.
>>
>> You CANNOT depend upon code reviews. Period. That isn't the answer to
>> resolving your questions.
>
> OK, thanks for the advice. I'm asking on-list now.
Umm... that is NOT what I was suggesting. Keep the questions in the
code. Go ahead and followup on list, but the mailing list might not
ever generate an answer, or the thread could peter out, or you might
not ever get a chance to flow the results back into the code. In all
those cases, it is best to leave the question there in the code.
If I'm reading code, then I *want* those questions in there. It tells
me to be wary. To find out more. That what I'm looking at my be
suspect. It is INFORMATIVE.
Absence of that question? Potentially dangerous. Certainly not informative.
If you have 10 questions, then by all means... put them in the code!
But please... do not simply omit them, and consider "asking on-list"
is better :-(
Cheers,
-g
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe_at_subversion.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help_at_subversion.tigris.org
Received on 2008-10-29 17:35:14 CET