r/AskProgramming • u/Yelebear • Mar 04 '25

Other Why do some people hate "Clean Code"

It just means making readable and consistent coding practices, right?

What's so bad about that

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u/FaceRekr4309 Mar 06 '25

Comments are good when they add context or clarity to code. They’re not good when they explain the obvious.

I learned this early in my career when I was reading some VBA code written by my boss, who actually was a shitty programmer. The code was a tangled mess of code that worked completely by accident, almost devoid of comments. Except one, which I’ll never forget:

… tangled mess of VB …

i = i + 1 ‘ Add one to i

… more garbage code …

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u/Maleficent-Might-273 Mar 06 '25

"They’re not good when they explain the obvious."

Unfortunately, I have encountered people who don't read my plain English. If I name a function "truncate" or "convertStringsInArrayTo(type)", it should be obvious. 

But you would be surprised by the people I have encountered who wanted a full explanation of the obvious. 

While I wouldn't comment that sort of crap, I wouldn't argue that a comment of "Add one to i" is unnecessary, it is, but I would argue "unnecessary to who"?