2 ms·
Good has a meaning, but it is a meaning that is highly context sensitive. When talking about "Good cars" for instance, what makes a good car for a mother of 5
by timwiseman 15y ago
Good has a meaning, but it is a meaning that is highly context sensitive.
When talking about "Good cars" for instance, what makes a good car for a mother of 5 is likely different from what makes a good car for a single person who is very worried about the environment and both of those are different from a "Good car" for drag racing.
- philwelch 15y agoYes, and likewise someone can be a very good web programmer while being a crappy embedded programmer. But there's common factors involved: likewise, a car that doesn't run probably isn't a good car regardless of your requirements. (OK, maybe you're a hobbyist that likes working on cars when they break down, or maybe you enjoy having broken down cars on your lawn for decoration. But by the same token, maybe you're a hobbyist who enjoys the IOCCC.) Defining the word "good" is a philosophical rabbit hole for sure, but if someone comes out and says "a good programmer is someone who writes maintainable code", and someone else comes out and says "a good programmer is someone who writes fast code", and someone else comes along and says "a good programmer is someone who writes code that pleases the customer", you're still having a meaningful discussion about which "good" is better, so to speak.