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I thought the hard thing in software development was naming things and off by one errors?
by s73ver 9y ago
I thought the hard thing in software development was naming things and off by one errors?
- johnny_reilly 9y agoClose. It's cache invalidation and naming things. But I feel ya
- nsxwolf 9y agoNo, it's "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off by one errors."
- MrPatan 9y agoTo me, the article falls into an expanded understanding of "naming things". As in, once everybody is talking about the same things using the same terminology and referring to the same abstract concepts, etc, the job is straightforward (it may still be a lot of work, but it's straightforward). As the article suggests, though, getting there is not easy!
- s73ver 9y agoTo make the joke work, I could only pick one. I thought naming things was the funnier option.
- creeble 9y agoThe joke is "There are only two hard problems in software: Naming things, counting, and naming things."
- zachrose 9y agoNaming things means understanding the problem. Preventing off by one errors means being fluent in the technical minutiae at the same time. So you could read this essay as just an expanded version of the saying.