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I've been using the phrase "Dung-beetle programming" for that dominant mode for some time.
by PAPPPmAc 6y ago
I've been using the phrase "Dung-beetle programming" for that dominant mode for some time.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoI love that! I am a "dependency skeptic." A lot of folks think I'm against them, but nothing could be further from the truth. Most of my software is composed of dependent modules. Mostly written by me.
- grishka 6y agoI don't oppose the whole concept of using libraries. I just look closely at each library I'm about to include in my project to understand what exactly it's doing, what it's abstracting away, what are the tradeoffs I'm making, and whether its scope is too broad for whatever I'm trying to achieve. It's sincerely perplexing to me that not everyone does this.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoThe other biggie is legal and fiduciary exposure. That's usually neglected by tecchies. You can't ask a lawyer, because they will always say "no," but I have seen some really bad things happen, because people didn't take this stuff seriously.
- grishka 6y agoI never take this stuff seriously, but then I never really worked, or ever had the desire to work, on anything this proprietary, or in a company this bureaucratic. When my first employer was acquired by a giant corporation and I started seeing it transform into this monstrosity, I quit.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoThe problem can be when something untoward happens with a dependency, or a buried dependency, like a security breach, or a licensing issue. Lawyers will generally chew up the food chain, and applications that use dependencies can get caught in the blast radius. That can happen with big shops, or small shops.
- grishka 6y agoAnyway, I've never in my life consulted a lawyer about my or someone else's code. The whole idea feels weird.
- ChrisMarshallNY 6y agoI will bet you don’t live in the US. Around here, lawyers are a dime a dozen.
- grishka 6y agoI don't. I'm Russian.