🔇Over-commenting is a code-smell: How to decide when comments are worth it

🎯 Featuring insights from 10 software engineers. Learn when to use comments to clarify, when they harm, and how to write clean, self-explanatory code with minimal clutter.

I’m doing code reviews, and there’s a line of code I don’t understand. Should I ask for an explanation in the PR, for a comment in the code, or for a refactor in the next revision?

This is a long-running debate in software engineering. Some say they’re essential for clarity; others argue they’re unnecessary clutter.

Done right, comments clarify.

Done wrong, they confuse.

Let’s explore when to comment and when to let the code speak for itself.

⭐ In this article you’ll learn

• When comments improve code and when they harm it.

• Writing self-explanatory code with minimal comments.

• Striking the balance between comments and clean code.

• The risks of over-commenting and poor reliance on them.