Example of Repetitive Comments

Looking through some old code for a project I’m working on I saw a block of code similar to this:

/// <summary>
/// This is MY method
/// </summary>
/// <param name="intValue">Some Number</param>
/// <param name="stringValue">Some String</param>
/// <returns>An empty string</returns>
public string MyMethod( // Returns An empty string
    int intValue,       // Some Number
    string stringValue) // Some String
{
    return string.Empty;
}

This code annoys me. Yet I see the problem: the XML comments are just a little too far away from the actual data. I think it would be cool to have tool tips for the parameters described in XML comments. It would have also helped name the parameters better.

Two devices to read a tech book

Last week I bought some technical books from the internet; they were stolen from my front door and I needed them immediately, so I ordered the e-book version. I like e-readers for pure text that is meant to be read in order (novels, histories, etc.), but technical books have diagrams, tables and code samples (“figures”) that may be referenced several pages later. So I decided to try using two devices …

I use the reader for the text and the tablet for the figures. I don’t like to read lots of text on a tablet because it is backlit. I really like reading plain text on a reader; I bought mine this spring and read the Lord of the Rings (+ the Hobbit) on it. I like reading on it better than reading books.

Since the reader doesn’t support zoom, I like to use the tablet to zoom the figures; actually, the image support on the reader is so bad that it would be difficult to read my current book without viewing images on the tablet.

This is not a supported way to read an e-book and will probably never be. Even with the hassle of juggling two devices it is better than the supported way. It would be nice if I could move between figures without shuffling through the text. Some UX designer better than me needs to do something to improve the tech book reading experience.