尽早编写注释的第三个也是最后一个好处是，它使编写注释更加有趣。对我来说，编程中最有趣的部分之一是新类的早期设计阶段，在那里，我将充实该类的抽象和结构。我的大部分注释都是在此阶段编写的，这些注释是我记录和测试设计决策质量的方式。我正在寻找可以用最少的词来完整而清晰地表达的设计。注释越简单，我对设计的感觉就越好，因此找到简单的注释是一种自豪感。如果您是策略性编程，而您的主要目标是一个出色的设计，而不仅仅是编写有效的代码，那么编写注释应该很有趣，因为这是您确定最佳设计的方式。
现在，让我们重新讨论延迟注释的参数，这是因为它避免了在代码演变时重新处理注释的开销。一个简单的信封计算将显示这并不能节省很多。首先，估算您一起键入代码和注释所花费的开发时间的总和，包括修改代码和注释的时间；这不太可能超过所有开发时间的 10％。即使您的全部代码行中有一半是注释，编写注释也可能不会占开发总时间的 5％以上。将注释延迟到最后只会节省其中的一小部分，这不是很多。
首先编写注释将意味着在开始编写代码之前，抽象将更加稳定。这可能会节省编码时间。相反，如果您首先编写代码，则抽象可能会随代码的发展而变化，与注释优先方法相比，将需要更多的代码修订。当您考虑所有这些因素时，可能首先整体编写注释可能会更快。
如果您从未尝试过先编写注释，请尝试一下。坚持足够长的时间来习惯它。然后考虑它如何影响您的注释质量，设计质量以及软件开发的整体乐趣。在尝试了一段时间之后，让我知道您的经历是否与我的相符，以及为什么或为什么不这样。
The third and final benefit of writing comments early is that it makes comment-writing more fun. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of programming is the early design phase for a new class, where I’m fleshing out the abstractions and structure for the class. Most of my comments are written during this phase, and the comments are how I record and test the quality of my design decisions. I’m looking for the design that can be expressed completely and clearly in the fewest words. The simpler the comments, the better I feel about my design, so finding simple comments is a source of pride. If you are programming strategically, where your main goal is a great design rather than just writing code that works, then writing comments should be fun, since that’s how you identify the best designs.
Now let’s revisit the argument for delaying comments, which is that it avoids the cost of reworking the comments as the code evolves. A simple back-of-the-envelope calculation will show that this doesn’t save much. First, estimate the total fraction of development time that you spend typing in code and comments together, including time to revise code and comments; it’s unlikely that this will be more than about 10% of all development time. Even if half of your total code lines are comments, writing comments probably doesn’t account for more than about 5% of your total development time. Delaying the comments until the end will save only a fraction of this, which isn’t very much.
Writing the comments first will mean that the abstractions will be more stable before you start writing code. This will probably save time during coding. In contrast, if you write the code first, the abstractions will probably evolve as you code, which will require more code revisions than the comments-first approach. When you consider all of these factors, it’s possible that it might be faster overall to write the comments first.
If you haven’t ever tried writing the comments first, give it a try. Stick with it long enough to get used to it. Then think about how it affects the quality of your comments, the quality of your design, and your overall enjoyment of software development. After you have tried this for a while, let me know whether your experience matches mine, and why or why not.