C# coding style: comments

Question

Most C# style guides recommend against the /* ... */ commenting style, in favor of // or ///. Why is the former style to be avoided?

Answer 1

/* */ is fine for multi-line code blocks. For instance at the top of a code file, copyright info etc.

// is easier for single line.

Always use /// for at least all public members in a class as your XML documentation gets generated from that from which you can create help files.

Answer 2

One example that comes to mind is that it's possible to accidentally interrupt a /* style comment. For example

/* This is the start of a comment that documents the 
   behavior of the +-*/ operators in our program
*/ 

This code does not compile, while the // variant would. Also the /// represents a specific style of documentation to which external tools respond differently.

Answer 3

My guess is because one requires explicit syntax on EACH line and one creates comments that can comment out large sections of code if the closing */ is not used. It's just not as safe.

Answer 4

My opinion is that "//" is just easier to type in than /**/