I commenti XML sono documenti necessari?

Ero un fan di richiedere commenti XML per la documentazione. Da allora ho cambiato idea per due motivi principali:

1. Like good code, methods should be self-explanatory.
2. In practice, most XML comments are useless noise that provide no additional value.

Molte volte usiamo GhostDoc per generare commenti generici, e questo è ciò che intendo per rumore inutile:

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the unit of measure.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The unit of measure.
    /// </value>
    public string UnitOfMeasure { get; set; }

Per me, è ovvio. Detto questo, se ci fossero istruzioni speciali da includere, allora dovremmo assolutamente usare i commenti XML.

Mi piace questo estratto da questo articolo :

Sometimes, you will need to write comments. But, it should be the exception not the rule. Comments should only be used when they are expressing something that cannot be expressed in code. If you want to write elegant code, strive to eliminate comments and instead write self-documenting code.

Ho sbagliato a pensare che dovremmo usare solo commenti XML quando il codice non è sufficiente per spiegarsi da solo?

Credo che questo sia un buon esempio in cui i commenti XML rendono il codice piuttosto brutto. Ci vuole una classe come questa ...

public class RawMaterialLabel : EntityBase
{
    public long     Id                      { get; set; }
    public string   ManufacturerId          { get; set; }
    public string   PartNumber              { get; set; }
    public string   Quantity                { get; set; }
    public string   UnitOfMeasure           { get; set; }
    public string   LotNumber               { get; set; }
    public string   SublotNumber            { get; set; }
    public int      LabelSerialNumber       { get; set; }
    public string   PurchaseOrderNumber     { get; set; }
    public string   PurchaseOrderLineNumber { get; set; }
    public DateTime ManufacturingDate       { get; set; }
    public string   LastModifiedUser        { get; set; }
    public DateTime LastModifiedTime        { get; set; }
    public Binary   VersionNumber           { get; set; }

    public ICollection<LotEquipmentScan> LotEquipmentScans { get; private set; }
}

... E lo trasforma in questo:

/// <summary>
/// Container for properties of a raw material label
/// </summary>
public class RawMaterialLabel : EntityBase
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the id.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The id.
    /// </value>
    public long Id { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the manufacturer id.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The manufacturer id.
    /// </value>
    public string ManufacturerId { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the part number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The part number.
    /// </value>
    public string PartNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the quantity.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The quantity.
    /// </value>
    public string Quantity { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the unit of measure.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The unit of measure.
    /// </value>
    public string UnitOfMeasure { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the lot number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The lot number.
    /// </value>
    public string LotNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the sublot number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The sublot number.
    /// </value>
    public string SublotNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the label serial number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The label serial number.
    /// </value>
    public int LabelSerialNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the purchase order number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The purchase order number.
    /// </value>
    public string PurchaseOrderNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the purchase order line number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The purchase order line number.
    /// </value>
    public string PurchaseOrderLineNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the manufacturing date.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The manufacturing date.
    /// </value>
    public DateTime ManufacturingDate { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the last modified user.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The last modified user.
    /// </value>
    public string LastModifiedUser { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the last modified time.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The last modified time.
    /// </value>
    public DateTime LastModifiedTime { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the version number.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The version number.
    /// </value>
    public Binary VersionNumber { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the lot equipment scans.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// The lot equipment scans.
    /// </value>
    public ICollection<LotEquipmentScan> LotEquipmentScans { get; private set; }
}