seems to return a count of all comments

gistfile1.aw

    public function count() {
        global $DB;
        if ($this->totalcommentcount === null) {
            $this->totalcommentcount = $DB->count_records('comments', array('itemid' => $this->itemid, 'commentarea' => $this->commentarea, 'contextid' => $this->context->id));
        }
        return $this->totalcommentcount;
    }