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I LOVE this frame of mind and I love this statement but it is usually only used in the negative alignment of expectations: don't take critique personally. No d

I LOVE this frame of mind and I love this statement but it is usually only used in the negative alignment of expectations: don't take critique personally. No disagreement. But let's get pedantic: The umbrella "you are not your code" would dismiss improvement as well. And praise. Ok, so I am not my code. But if I don't learn from my mistakes my code will not improve. I... I... I... Anyway, I much prefer to reframe it this way: Programming is a very intimate experience. The same as creating art. It is the manifestation of your thoughts and opinions, small and large, put out in to the world. So sure, don't be offended by critique. But also remember to extend some grace when doing a review.

majormajor 5y ago
> The umbrella "you are not your code" would dismiss improvement as well. And praise. I don't see why you think this is the same thing. Improvement in someone's coding skill is good from a business/colleague/project perspective. And from a "practice paid off" perspective. And positive feedback is always good to give, you certainly shouldn't only give negative feedback. But you shouldn't get too attached to your code in either case. Today's good code is likely to be tomorrow's bad legacy code anyway. It shouldn't be an "intimate experience," programming for a company is an exercise in utility.
- jseban 5y ago
  I agree. People are not robots, this is just silly. You'd never get a good effective team by taking this extreme stance that nobody ever has any feelings about their work.
dgfitz 5y ago
> Programming is a very intimate experience. >The same as creating art. It is the manifestation of your thoughts and opinions, small and large, put out in to the world. I respectfully disagree. This thought process is why other people are left holding the bag at 11pm on a Friday fixing the 'art' of someone else. Computer Science is a derivative of mathematics. Math is not art. Math IS beautiful, explicitly because it is NOT ambiguous or subject to interpretation. Math is right or wrong. It works or it is flawed. Programming isn't art. edit: forgot a >
- reidjs 5y ago
  Computer Games are art and games are one result of computer science. Can a science create an art? I guess color theory can explain why we enjoy colors. But the science came after the art. I agree that data structures and algorithms are not art, but when combined in unique ways they create art. I think the problem is the field is so new and these terms aren’t well defined.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  Code exists on a continuum. It’s not correct or incorrect. It is better or worse. Unless you consider anything less than perfect to be wrong, but that’ll just make nobody want to work with you.
  - dgfitz 5y ago
    It’s not better or worse: it works or it doesn’t. Making something convoluted and “artistic” just makes it harder for the next dev to deal with.
    - leetrout 5y ago
      No one said code needs to be artistic. You have twisted my words. I equated it to art as the physical manifestation of something that represents someone's mental imaging / modeling.
jseban 5y ago
Good point about also extending some grace when doing a review. In my experience insensitive and unnecessary, pedantic and overall shitty critique is a much bigger issue and I'd rather see people push back more on it actually.

majormajor 5y ago

> The umbrella "you are not your code" would dismiss improvement as well. And praise. I don't see why you think this is the same thing. Improvement in someone's coding skill is good from a business/colleague/project perspective. And from a "practice paid off" perspective. And positive feedback is always good to give, you certainly shouldn't only give negative feedback. But you shouldn't get too attached to your code in either case. Today's good code is likely to be tomorrow's bad legacy code anyway. It shouldn't be an "intimate experience," programming for a company is an exercise in utility.

jseban 5y ago
I agree. People are not robots, this is just silly. You'd never get a good effective team by taking this extreme stance that nobody ever has any feelings about their work.

dgfitz 5y ago

> Programming is a very intimate experience. >The same as creating art. It is the manifestation of your thoughts and opinions, small and large, put out in to the world. I respectfully disagree. This thought process is why other people are left holding the bag at 11pm on a Friday fixing the 'art' of someone else. Computer Science is a derivative of mathematics. Math is not art. Math IS beautiful, explicitly because it is NOT ambiguous or subject to interpretation. Math is right or wrong. It works or it is flawed. Programming isn't art. edit: forgot a >

reidjs 5y ago
Computer Games are art and games are one result of computer science. Can a science create an art? I guess color theory can explain why we enjoy colors. But the science came after the art. I agree that data structures and algorithms are not art, but when combined in unique ways they create art. I think the problem is the field is so new and these terms aren’t well defined.
Aeolun 5y ago
Code exists on a continuum. It’s not correct or incorrect. It is better or worse. Unless you consider anything less than perfect to be wrong, but that’ll just make nobody want to work with you.
- dgfitz 5y ago
  It’s not better or worse: it works or it doesn’t. Making something convoluted and “artistic” just makes it harder for the next dev to deal with.
  - leetrout 5y ago
    No one said code needs to be artistic. You have twisted my words. I equated it to art as the physical manifestation of something that represents someone's mental imaging / modeling.

jseban 5y ago

Good point about also extending some grace when doing a review. In my experience insensitive and unnecessary, pedantic and overall shitty critique is a much bigger issue and I'd rather see people push back more on it actually.