[collyw]

I can't see why he thinks his second example is any more readable than his first. The commented version explains what will happen. The second version requires at least some knowledge of the context.

There are plenty of times when I have been given bits of other peoples code and told to make them work. All I have is an error message. Usually very little context about what the program is doing or why. In these cases, comments make a world of difference.

Even in my own code, looking back on it after 6 months. Sure, I can read the code and understand it, but it will take me 5 times longer than if there is a helpful comment near each step.