How do you deal with out of sync comments?

Question

I'm working on a codebase and I run into these sometimes. It really is a pain whenever I read them, as my understanding of the code actually goes DOWN while I read out of sync comments.Wondering if you guys ever ran into this problem, and how you get around it. Interested in what you guys think.

PaulHoule · Accepted Answer

Update the comments when you see they are out of date.But really, comments have a "don't repeat yourself" problem... It's not clear that writing comments is always a good thing since they incur a maintenance burden.

gregjor · Answer

The same way I deal with trash on the street. Ignore it or clean it up.

How do you deal with out of sync comments?

I'm working on a codebase and I run into these sometimes. It really is a pain whenever I read them, as my understanding of the code actually goes DOWN while I read out of sync comments.
Wondering if you guys ever ran into this problem, and how you get around it. Interested in what you guys think.

Update the comments when you see they are out of date.
But really, comments have a "don't repeat yourself" problem... It's not clear that writing comments is always a good thing since they incur a maintenance burden.

The same way I deal with trash on the street. Ignore it or clean it up.