Code Comments vs External Documentation

Developers should use code comments to improve code readability, facilitate team collaboration, and aid in future maintenance by explaining complex algorithms, assumptions, or non-obvious behavior meets developers should learn and use external documentation to improve software usability, maintainability, and collaboration, especially in team environments or for public-facing projects. Here's our take.

Code Comments

Nice Pick

Developers should use code comments to improve code readability, facilitate team collaboration, and aid in future maintenance by explaining complex algorithms, assumptions, or non-obvious behavior

Pros

• They are essential in large projects, legacy systems, or when writing public APIs where clear documentation ensures others can understand and extend the code effectively
• Related to: code-documentation, clean-code

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

External Documentation

Developers should learn and use external documentation to improve software usability, maintainability, and collaboration, especially in team environments or for public-facing projects

Pros

• It is essential when building APIs, libraries, or complex systems where users need clear instructions beyond code, such as in open-source contributions, enterprise software, or regulatory compliance scenarios
• Related to: technical-writing, api-documentation

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Code Comments is a concept while External Documentation is a methodology. We picked Code Comments based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Code Comments wins

Based on overall popularity. Code Comments is more widely used, but External Documentation excels in its own space.