Multi-line commenting

Question

Okay, so we've been having a little side argument at work for a few weeks now.
The premise is, is it best practice to use multi-line C-style comments in Java code any more?
The arguments tend to vary from saying that the following is ugly:
// This is a multiline comment.
// Isn't it pretty?
//To the above being better than the following:
* This is a multiline comment.
* Isn't it pretty?
*/The latter argument tends to be based around the fact that multi-line comments "cancel each other out" for want of a better description. (I.e. you cant have nested C-style comments because the first close will close both) e.g.
*int x = 200;
*int y = 300;
* *A comment
*int a = 1;
//Oh no- the above can't work!
String s = "abc";I'm interested to know what the forums think of this.

Answer 1

meacod wrote:
masijade. wrote:
You do realise though, that those leading *'s on each line in those C style comments are not necessary, right? ;-)Oh, of course. I just did that to illustrate the point a bit more clearly.Okay, I thought you did, but I have known a few people who didn't. ;-)
I suppose another item that enters into this is whether you believe in commenting out code or not. I'm firmly of the belief that you should never commit whole swathes of commented-out code; it either exists and will work, or doesn't work and should therefore be taken out. Others of course feel differently...True, but sometimes you're just trying things and may change it back, in which case it's easier to just comment out one portion. Not that that should be more than temporary, of course. ;-)