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As with most things, being exposed to different influences tends to make you a better programmer. So does fairly routinely getting a grasp of a big or otherwise
by rue 16y ago
As with most things, being exposed to different influences tends to make you a better programmer. So does fairly routinely getting a grasp of a big or otherwise alien codebase.
It might not work for everyone, of course, but it is probably beneficial for 90% of working programmers. So do not use this as an excuse to not try pairing (or working in larger teams, others' code etc.) with an open mind.
- flatline 16y agoI would agree that different influences make you a better programmer, but perhaps not in the way that you meant. Almost every code base I've worked on in industry has been - and I think that most of my co-workers would agree with me - a steaming pile of code that barely functions well enough to do the desired task and is a nightmare to maintain. I've seen this at small shops and big corporations alike. Most of the really nice stuff that I've seen has been from OSS projects and books, and occasionally some project that a lone developer hacked out from scratch with little oversight and few constraints. Dealing with the ugly stuff has given me a good feel for anti-patterns and things to avoid from the get-go, but it has not exactly been a positive influence.