Code Comment Generator

Good comments explain why, not what. The code already says what. If you're narrating the code, delete the comment and make the code clearer instead.

What deserves a comment

Worth commenting	Why
A non-obvious constraint the code depends on	"x is sorted here because caller guarantees it"
A tradeoff that was made deliberately	"O(n²) is fine — n ≤ 20 by construction"
Why the obvious approach is wrong	"Can't use .sort() — caller holds references into this list"
A workaround for an external bug	"libfoo 2.3 returns NULL here; remove when we upgrade"
Magic numbers with a source	"15s — AWS Lambda cold start p99 + margin"
Coupling to something far away	"Must match the regex in nginx.conf"
A subtle correctness argument	"Safe to read without lock: only written at startup"

What does NOT deserve a comment

Skip	Why
i++ // increment i	The code says that. Noise.
// loop over items above for item in items:	Same.
Restating the function name in a docstring	def save_user(): """Saves user.""" — waste.
Commented-out code	That's what git is for. Delete it.
// TODO: fix this later	Unactionable. TODO: what and why not now?
Comments that will rot	"Called from foo.py:42" — until foo.py changes.

The test: does this survive a rename?

If you rename all the variables and the comment still makes sense, it's a good comment (explains intent). If the comment is now wrong, it was restating the code.

# BEFORE rename
x = compute_total(items)
# Store the total     ← restating. Bad.

# AFTER rename test
q = compute_total(items)
# Store the total     ← now the comment is confusing. It was bad.

vs.

# Compute total before filtering — downstream needs the pre-filter sum for the audit log.
x = compute_total(items)
items = [i for i in items if i.active]

Rename x → comment still explains why the ordering matters. Good.

Worked example

Uncommented code:

def reconnect(self):
    delay = 0.1
    for attempt in range(8):
        try:
            self._connect()
            return
        except ConnectionError:
            time.sleep(delay + random.uniform(0, delay))
            delay = min(delay * 2, 5.0)
    raise ConnectionError("exhausted retries")

What the code already says: retries 8 times, exponential backoff, cap at 5s, jitter. Don't comment any of that.

What's not obvious:

def reconnect(self):
    # Full jitter would be random.uniform(0, delay), but that occasionally
    # produces near-zero sleeps that hammer the server. Half-jitter (delay + uniform(0, delay))
    # guarantees at least `delay` between attempts — gentler on the remote.
    delay = 0.1
    for attempt in range(8):   # 8 attempts × max 10s each ≈ 80s worst case — under the 90s LB timeout
        try:
            self._connect()
            return
        except ConnectionError:
            time.sleep(delay + random.uniform(0, delay))
            delay = min(delay * 2, 5.0)
    raise ConnectionError("exhausted retries")

Two comments. The first explains a non-obvious design choice (why half-jitter, not full-jitter). The second explains a magic number in terms of an external constraint (LB timeout).

Docstrings — the API contract

Docstrings are a different animal: they're for callers, not maintainers. They should state:

• What the function does (one line)
• Parameter constraints (types, ranges, nullability)
• Return value meaning (including sentinel values)
• Exceptions raised and when
• Side effects (mutation, I/O)

They should NOT describe the implementation. If the implementation changes but the contract doesn't, the docstring shouldn't need updating.

Do not

• Do not write // increment counter above counter++. Ever.
• Do not explain what a standard idiom does. # list comprehension above a list comprehension — the reader knows Python or they don't; the comment won't help either way.
• Do not leave TODO without a what and a why-not-now. TODO(#1234): remove this shim once libfoo 3.0 ships (expected Q2) is actionable. TODO: fix is not.
• Do not write comments that reference line numbers or file paths elsewhere. They rot immediately. Reference concepts, not locations.
• Do not add a comment when the fix is to rename a variable. x = get_total() # x is the total → just total = get_total().

Output format

For each comment proposed:

## <file:line>

### Current code
<snippet>

### Proposed comment
<the comment>

### Why this comment
<what non-obvious thing it explains — constraint, tradeoff, coupling, workaround>

### Not commenting
<things in this snippet that looked comment-worthy but aren't — the code says it>