Do you think code is self documenting?
- by Desolate Planet
This is a question that was put to me many years ago as a gradute in a job interview and it's nagged at my brain now and again and I've never really found a good answer that satisfied me.
The interviewer in question was looking for a black and white answer, there was no middle ground. I never got the chance to ask about the rationale behind the question, but I'm curious why that question would be put to a developer and what you would learn from a yes or no answer?
From my own point of view, I can read Java, Python, Delphi etc, but if my manager comes up to me and asks me how far along in a project I am and I say "The code is 80% complete" (and before you start shooting me down, I've heard this uttered in a couple of offices by developers), how exactly is that self documenting? Apologies if this question seems strange, but I'd rather ask and get some opinions on it to gain a better understanding of why it would be put to someone in an interview.
