[webkit-dev] About removing comments

[Simon Fraser]

On Feb 1, 2011, at 9:51 PM, Adam Barth wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 9:47 PM, Alexey Proskuryakov <ap at webkit.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Please don't start a comment removing crusade!
>> 
>> I've just noticed a patch that got landed a few hours ago, which removed a comment I found quite useful when fixing a bug in related code, <https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53549>. This was essentially a FIXME, and it also explained the end result of a very convoluted code path.
>> 
>> That code definitely needs refactoring, but how does removing a comment without actual refactoring help?
> 
> That comment doesn't say anything.  It just tells you the name of the
> formal parameter (and then says that the author was confused and
> didn't trace back the reason why the code is that way).  IMHO, using
> an enum instead of a bool is a much better way of making the semantics
> of the parameter clear.

But removing the comment without making that change is removing useful information!

Simon