"Comments like "UGLY TERRIBLE HACK" tend to indicate good code rather than bad: in bad code ugly terrible hacks are considered par for the course."
For Microsoft or for everyone?
For Microsoft or for everyone?
A mediocre programmer might come up with the same fix, but not recognize that the fix was an ugly hack, and not comment as such.
// TODO:
The measure of a good programmer is not whether he or she recognizes when they're writing bad code, but whether the final result is free of bad code, and thus more maintainable.
I would argue that someone commenting known bad code, but leaving it there in perpetuity is no better than someone unknowingly writing bad code (although the comments could serve as signposts to help someone else find and fix your bad code - but how often has that ever actually happened?).