two versions of each function; the actual function code itself, and at the top of the function, the entire function written in pseudocode.

I found this to be extremely redundant, especially since the code was written in COBOL. Nowadays, I stick with the good comments throughout the code, but I only use them to explain the logic, not necessarily the code.

I've seen some functions that have comments explaining what each piece of code does. This is fine if someone who doesn't know the language will be maintainting it (Why?), but that's also what the programming language's documentation is for.

In closing, don't try to document the language, stick with documenting the logic, and let the maintainer learn the language somewhere else.