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Add Documentation to Identify Sections in Your Code

Add Documentation to Identify Sections in Your Code

With embedded combinations of loops, conditions, and try / catch statements, it can be difficult to keep track of where each section ends when quickly scanning your Java code, even with the help of indention. For example:

 public method doSomething(Object value) {	int value;	if (value instanceof String) {		try {			value = Integer.parseInt(value.toString());		}		cach (NumberFormatException nfe) {			value = -1;		}	}	else if (value instanceof Integer) {		value = ((Integer)value).intValue();	}}

With complex combinations, these blocks are not only difficult to separate visually, but they can also be difficult to debug if you accidentally omit a closing brace. The situation can be improved by adding documentation that identifies the end of a given section:

 public method doSomething(Object value) {	int value;	if (value instanceof String) {		try {			value = Integer.parseInt(value.toString());		}  //  try		cach (NumberFormatException nfe) {			value = -1;		}  //  catch (NumberFormatException nfe)	}  //  if (value instanceof String)	else if (value instanceof Integer) {		value = ((Integer)value).intValue();	}  //  else if (value instanceof Integer)}  //  public method doSomething(Object value)

This technique is especially helpful for very long blocks of code, where the closing brace does not appear on the screen at the same time (or same page of a printout). The programmer can then easily identify the beginning and end of a section of code by using a combination of indention and the comment describing the start of the section.

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