Write only programming - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

1 Mar 2002

...
  "R. D. Davis" &lt;rdd(a)rddavis.org&gt;
wrote:
  Also, remember that obfuscated code is an art
form that should bring
 bonuses and raises to programmers skilled in this art.  Besides, a
 programmer who can't read so-called "difficult to read code," with no
 comments, isn't a real programmer. :-)  
 No comments?  I think you're forgetting the potential of comments as
 things whose maintenance is a lesser priority and whose relationship
 to the code may therefore differ from the reader's expectations.   
Edward Yourdon recounts an episode in one of his textbooks about a
large assembly language program that was comment-free, except for
a single line (don't know the real processor so I'm faking the
instruction):

1827:		MOV	AX,0001H		; R.I.P. L.V.B.

The programmer brought in to maintain this code was certain that
this was the Rosetta Stone to the entire application; if he could
figure it out, he'd have no trouble with this code.

However, the final revelation wasn't very helpful, although he
did give up and finally just immerse himself in the code to gain
the understanding he'd vainly hoped he'd get from decyphering the
comment.

Any guesses as to the comment's meaning? No fair if
you read the book and know the answer from that...

;)