But they are, so that rule is non-sense.

This. A million times over.

I don’t want to have to read through implementation code. I want to know what I’m supposed to put into something (method), what’ll come back out of it, and if it’ll throw an exception. That’s really all I need, if I’m just using it.
The inner workings only matter, if I have to change them, so I should only be expected to have to read them then.

That train of thought really applies to commit messages.

Variable names are 10 characters max…

First of all my hat is off to you.
And second, you can and should definitely use comments in that situation.

I’m talking about modern languages when I am suggesting that you can structure the code to explain the meaning.

I run into uncommented blocks of code that I simply can’t decipher. I see what they do but I have no context for it. I’m unable to determine business rules from it. All I need is a sentence or two just explaining “why?”. The only way I can determine what a program is doing is by reading the comments. Without them, every task would simply be way too time-consuming.

My job may sound miserable but maintenance is only part of it. Free-form ILERPG has evolved so much it can be hard to differentiate from other modern languages. So, when I write new programs, my code can be very self-documentating and easy to follow. Thankfully, I also write SQL views and procedures as we operate in SQL environment and RPG simply provides the fundamental programming logic.

I read somewhere that the code should self-document the “how”, and you should write comments to explain the “why”. That seemed like a pretty good rule of thumb to me.

Businesses relying on software, I’m here to tell that I charge the
developer.

I charge the developer with being the biggest liar on this earth.

I charge the developer with being the biggest imposter on this
earth.

I charge the developer with being the biggest neglector on this
earth.

There is no place in this world where that man can go where he has
delivered solutions.

Everywhere he has gone, he has created havoc!

Everywhere he has gone, he has created debt!

So I charge the developer.

I charge the developer with being the biggest slacker on this
earth.

I charge the developer with being the biggest robber and enslaver
on this earth.

I charge the developer with being the most unprofessional on this
earth.

He cannot deny the charges. You cannot deny the charges. Our
return on investment are living proof of those charges!

You and I have proof!

You don’t have developers. You’re the victim of developers!

He didn’t tell you the side-effects of what would happen if you’d
hire him.

He didn’t say that if you hired him that he would use your time
and money to make mistakes.

He didn’t tell you that he doesn’t practice new ideas on his own
time.

No! He practiced the latest buzz-words and media hype on your time!

Thus, he practiced and failed miserably with your money!

Hiring developers has not solve your business problems.

You’re not a developer. I’m not a developer.

You’re one of a million businesses that are victims of the
developer!

We haven’t seen the developer bring to life our business’s dream.

But we’ve experienced the developer’s touch of death, just to
deliver our business’s nightmare.