Skip to content

Comments

Comment every line of a q function, keeping code and comment on the same line.

Align the comments for ease of reading.

Indent the comment block to mirror that of the function.

sendLeft:{                      / update from left to right links at x=_i
  s:get[_v;`G]                  /   absolute source field name
  h:(::;*:)?get[_v;`H]          /   0 (::) or  1 (*:)
  j:enlist@x                    /   itemwise index
  p:.[att[_d;`J];undot s]       /   left link partition
  i::[h;p j;p . x]              /   index map into right table
  d::[h;_v j;_v . x]            /   first (*:) or all (::)
  @[s;i;:d]                     /   update source field
}

A function in an early version of k: the comments now even more valuable than before

Conventions for comments

line comment
Local assignment Describe the meaning or the role of the variable.
Side effect Use the imperative mode, indicating the action performed.
Control structure Describe the meaning of the condition or loop.

Document ‘dangerous curves’ in ALL CAPS, or use some other eye-catching device.

Header comments

How to comment the header of a q function is a matter of some controversy.

We recommend treating the header as just another line in the function, with this one difference: the comment should describe the meaning of the function as a whole.

Some programmers believe the header comment should contain standardized information about the function as a whole. 

sendLeft:{
  / ds: update from left to right link
  / ts: sjt 2017.08.13
  / x:  +i or _n if _i is ()
  / rs: none
  / gr: _v
  :

The header comment block contains a function description, author and timestamp data, argument and result documentation, and information about which global variables are read and set. Unfortunately, this style tends to bloat functions with non-executable lines. Recall that the typical q function contains but five lines.

Help dictionary

The same information could be packed into a help dictionary for the function.

\d .sendLefth
ds:"update from left to right link"
ts:"sjt 2017.08.13"
x:"+i or _n if _i is ()"
rs:"none"
gr:"_v"

Any q variable (and functions are just variables) can have a help dictionary, which then can be displayed or inspected. This is consistent with q’s general approach to the constructs of programming: if it matters, make it first-class. (Eventually this form of help could be directly supported by q’s interactive debugger.)

Back to top