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It sounds like you have empathy. A lot of people look at issues with a code base and just assume the problem is due to stupidity. Rather than coming from the
by mywittyname 6y ago
It sounds like you have empathy.
A lot of people look at issues with a code base and just assume the problem is due to stupidity. Rather than coming from the angle of, "this person was probably as capable as I am, why did they make this decision?"
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoYeah, the trouble is that it's easy to update a method to account for a bug, but the cumulative effect of those changes tends to make a codebase more difficult to reason about for new starters. In general, being able to take a few steps back and look at the whole system is often rewarding, but it's super difficult. Actually, people who come to a project later can often be great for this, as they can see the project as it is now, rather than as it evolved. Unfortunately, we tend to be quite bad at letting people take the time to build said mental model. Also, most people hate reading code (or at least they don't take the time to do so). Personally, I really like reading code, and I find legacy projects much easier to work on than many of my colleagues.