13 ms·

Programming analogy as sudoku

28 points by BIackSwan 15y ago

Roritharr 15y ago
I read the sudoku analogy some time ago on stack overflow, only it was much shorter and concerning the question of time. How do you explain somebody why it is hard to know when you will have accomplished a certain programming task? Just ask how long he will need for a sudoku, with a second in precision.
ohyes 15y ago
As a beardo, I have to say, this makes programming far more complicated than it needs to be. It is like solving a sudoku, except you get to write the sudoku. So it is possible to make the sudoku really easy, if you think about what a really easy sudoku consists of and code according to principles of easy sudokus. It is also possible to make it really difficult if you use java, fortran, or c++.
- ohyes 15y ago
  And halfway through, some guy says 'oh hey, I didn't want a sudoku, I wanted a crossword.' And you can't do anything about it. So you shoehorn your beautifully sculpted sudoku (which was perfect and simple to understand!) and try to force it to look like a crossword, and it kind of is, but it is extremely complicated, you can't even understand it, but the deadline is tomorrow. So you ship it anyway.
eLobato 15y ago
I'd say that teamwork and cooperation within programmers is like a sudoku, programming is more like writing not the sudoku but whatever comes out of that fucked up mind of any of you HN readers!
- threepointone 15y ago
  I'd rather be me than you. Sincerely, threepoint-"a rather fucked up mind"-one.
  - eLobato 15y ago
    Do you mean to be offensive with that post? I wrote "fucked up" as in "crazy, spontaneous, creative as hell", not as in any offensive way, homie.
    - threepointone 15y ago
      Fair enough, but you sure sounded offensive. I apologize for the snarky comment as well. It sucks when tone doesn't get conveyed properly over plain text. We good? Yeah, we good :)
wccrawford 15y ago
I was outright laughing by the time I got to "The squares, can't you see, the squares, they're so beautiful". Because it's so true. It's SO easy to get wrapped up in chaos like that if you aren't truly working as a team. If everyone is off doing their own thing with no code review, it happens just like that. However, if you add code reviews (or pair programmer, if you are so minded) and good teamwork, it's more like crafting fine art than creating a labyrinth from the inside.

28 points by BIackSwan 15y ago

I read the sudoku analogy some time ago on stack overflow, only it was much shorter and concerning the question of time. How do you explain somebody why it is hard to know when you will have accomplished a certain programming task? Just ask how long he will need for a sudoku, with a second in precision.

ohyes 15y ago

As a beardo, I have to say, this makes programming far more complicated than it needs to be. It is like solving a sudoku, except you get to write the sudoku. So it is possible to make the sudoku really easy, if you think about what a really easy sudoku consists of and code according to principles of easy sudokus. It is also possible to make it really difficult if you use java, fortran, or c++.

ohyes 15y ago
And halfway through, some guy says 'oh hey, I didn't want a sudoku, I wanted a crossword.' And you can't do anything about it. So you shoehorn your beautifully sculpted sudoku (which was perfect and simple to understand!) and try to force it to look like a crossword, and it kind of is, but it is extremely complicated, you can't even understand it, but the deadline is tomorrow. So you ship it anyway.

eLobato 15y ago

I'd say that teamwork and cooperation within programmers is like a sudoku, programming is more like writing not the sudoku but whatever comes out of that fucked up mind of any of you HN readers!

threepointone 15y ago
I'd rather be me than you. Sincerely, threepoint-"a rather fucked up mind"-one.
- eLobato 15y ago
  Do you mean to be offensive with that post? I wrote "fucked up" as in "crazy, spontaneous, creative as hell", not as in any offensive way, homie.
  - threepointone 15y ago
    Fair enough, but you sure sounded offensive. I apologize for the snarky comment as well. It sucks when tone doesn't get conveyed properly over plain text. We good? Yeah, we good :)

wccrawford 15y ago

I was outright laughing by the time I got to "The squares, can't you see, the squares, they're so beautiful". Because it's so true. It's SO easy to get wrapped up in chaos like that if you aren't truly working as a team. If everyone is off doing their own thing with no code review, it happens just like that. However, if you add code reviews (or pair programmer, if you are so minded) and good teamwork, it's more like crafting fine art than creating a labyrinth from the inside.