When I started out programming I was taught that the code should "document itself" and that comments were an anti-pattern to writing good code. It took me a few years realize how idiotic that was and deprogram myself.

It's one of those things that sounds nice, but once you've moved beyond a certain level of complexity you realize how impractical it is. The fact is that "good code" is often in the eye of the beholder and not everyone has the same skill or vision, so they might as well write a comment about what something does and the intent behind it rather than leave others guessing.