Often when debugging code, you toggle between two blocks of code. You comment in one block, and comment out the other block. As simple as it sounds, going back and forth dozens of times can become quite annoying.

In the 80’s, my software mentor and music software pioneer Dr. Paul Nahay invented one of the coolest coding tricks I know. Today, his trick is all over the internet. It lets you toggle between code blocks by changing 1 character.

Can you spot the difference?

//*
document.write("Dr. Paul Nahay ROCKS!");
/*/
document.write("Dr. Paul Nahay KICKS ASS!");
//*/
/*
document.write("Dr. Paul Nahay ROCKS!");
/*/
document.write("Dr. Paul Nahay KICKS ASS!");
//*/

It all happens in the first line. You write //* or /*. One character. It’s that simple.

He calls it Nahay Comments.