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I think the Socratic method is a much better teaching device. Dogma is the opposite of teaching you to think for yourself. Dogma says "Follow these principles a

I think the Socratic method is a much better teaching device. Dogma is the opposite of teaching you to think for yourself. Dogma says "Follow these principles and you'll write good code, don't question it!". Principles need to be challenged and proof needs to be provided how and in what way they are really "best practices". The black and white thinking of dogma are the very reasons why many religious groups don't progress with the modern world and insist they know better than everyone else without having to explain why. Not trying to diss all religions, but I was raised in a very strict one and group-think and anecdotal evidence is used to justify poor decision making. I'd rather be a critical-thinking programmer than a principle-obeying one.

jacques_chester 10y ago
Maybe I need to use a different word, especially I used it a little self-deprecatingly. I do answer questions (often at eyeball-dessicating length), but I also insist on the practices. I sometimes referred to Pivotal Labs as a debating club that produces code as a by-product. Everything is up for debate. "Strong opinions, weakly held" was a frequent motto. But that didn't mean we started from scratch. Almost all projects start with the core practices and stick with them fairly tenaciously and inflexibly (in the face of the circumstances we have seen before), in order to facilitate the immersion. Yes. I need a different word. I am not conveying this well at all.