diff --git a/except.hpp b/except.hpp
index acfbf06..562356f 100644
--- a/except.hpp
+++ b/except.hpp
@@ -84,6 +84,17 @@ namespace cruft::vk {
         }
 
 
+        ///--------------------------------------------------------------------
+        /// returns a container of values obtained from FuncT
+        ///
+        /// FuncT must take arguments of the form:
+        ///     ... FuncT (..., uint32_t *length, ResultT *values)
+        /// and must return the expected length when values is null.
+        ///
+        /// the return type will be checked by try_code if it is a VkResult.
+        ///
+        /// the container will dynamically size so that it can contain all
+        /// available values.
         template <
             template <typename...> class ContainerT = std::vector,
             typename FuncT,
@@ -92,9 +103,12 @@ namespace cruft::vk {
         static auto
         try_array (FuncT &&func, Args &&...args)
         {
+            // extract the number of elements available
             uint32_t expected = 0;
             try_func (func, args..., &expected, nullptr);
 
+            // find the type of the last argument, ie. the values we're
+            // requesting
             using ValueT = std::remove_pointer_t<
                 std::tuple_element_t<
                     sizeof...(Args) + 1,
@@ -102,11 +116,17 @@ namespace cruft::vk {
                 >
             >;
 
+            // return the values on the stack temporarily as we may need to
+            // convert them to a seperate result type.
+            //
+            // TODO: remove this intermediate step where we don't actually
+            // have a conversion to do, ie ResultT == ValueT.
             ValueT values[expected];
             uint32_t found = expected;
             try_func (func, args..., &found, &values[0]);
             CHECK_EQ (expected, found);
 
+            // convert to the requested type
             return ContainerT<ValueT> {
                 &values[0],
                 &values[found]
@@ -115,6 +135,7 @@ namespace cruft::vk {
     };
 
 
+    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
     class invalid_argument : public error {
     public:
         invalid_argument (const char *_what) noexcept:
@@ -132,6 +153,7 @@ namespace cruft::vk {
     };
 
 
+    //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
     template <VkResult>
     class error_code : public error {
     public: