Code comments Memes

Ah yes, the classic "stating the obvious" comment. The car door literally says "This DOOR is Blue" while being clearly silver/white. It's the programming equivalent of writing int x = 5; // this is 5 instead of explaining why x needs to be 5. After 15 years in the industry, I've learned that future you will hate past you for these comments. The real documentation we need is "WHY this door is painted differently" not "WHAT color it obviously isn't." Just like your code should explain the how, your comments should explain the why.

The AUDACITY of these code comments! A stop sign with another sign below it saying "THIS IS A STOP SIGN" is the PERFECT representation of those mind-numbingly obvious code comments we're forced to endure! You know the ones: // This is a loop right above a FOR loop, or // Function to add numbers above a function literally called addNumbers(). GASP! The horror! It's like someone thought we all collectively lost our ability to recognize basic syntax! Next thing you know, they'll be adding comments like // This code exists just to make absolutely sure we're aware of that groundbreaking fact! 🙄

The eternal paradox of software development: we desperately want good documentation for other people's code, but when it comes to documenting our own? Suddenly we're that mysterious figure walking away into the cosmic void. Let's be honest—we all start projects thinking "I'll document this properly" but then deadlines hit and it's just "the code is self-explanatory" followed by angry comments six months later when even YOU can't remember how your own sorcery works. Future you will hate present you. It's the circle of dev life.

Just like vampires HISS and RECOIL at the mere sight of sunlight, and Superman RUNS FOR HIS LIFE from a tiny green rock, developers everywhere are DRAMATICALLY FLINGING THEMSELVES away from the most TERRIFYING monster of all - DOCUMENTATION! 💀 The sheer HORROR of having to read or (gasp!) WRITE documentation has developers everywhere breaking into cold sweats. Who needs that kind of trauma when you can just wing it and cry later? It's not like anyone's going to read it anyway! The code should speak for itself... right? RIGHT?!

Selective blindness is a core developer skill. Those TODOs are like the digital equivalent of that pile of laundry you've been stepping over for weeks. Sure, they're there, screaming for attention with their all-caps urgency, but acknowledging them would mean actually having to do something about them. Better to just pretend they don't exist until code review forces your hand. Future you can deal with it – that guy's always been a bit of a sucker anyway.

The image shows an empty or barely visible diagram of what appears to be some kind of device interface with the title "How programmers comment their code". It's the perfect representation of that code you inherited with exactly zero helpful comments. You know, the 10,000-line monstrosity where the only comment is // TODO: fix this later from 2014. Or my personal favorite: /* Don't touch this. I don't know why it works. */ After 15 years in the industry, I've accepted that comprehensive documentation is like unicorns—everyone talks about them, but nobody's actually seen one in production.

The gradual descent into madness every developer experiences when they convince themselves comments are unnecessary. "I'll remember what this code does" is the battle cry of the optimistic junior, while the clown makeup represents the inevitable reality check six months later when you're staring at your own hieroglyphics wondering what dark magic you were attempting to summon. Future You will absolutely hate Past You for this decision. The final form—full clown regalia—is what you deserve when you realize the code that "only you will work on" is now being assigned to the new hire who keeps asking why there's a function called fixThisLater() with zero explanation.