4 ms·

Code is not mainly to be read by a person. It is a step to an executable artifact. It is read by a person mainly to modify that artifact. This trope that code i

by rokob 3y ago

Code is not mainly to be read by a person. It is a step to an executable artifact. It is read by a person mainly to modify that artifact. This trope that code is meant to be read is misunderstanding why you are reading it. One doesn’t read code as prose for its own sake. You read code as a means to an end. It is why we sometimes only read the documentation of libraries without reading the underlying code.

mpweiher 3y ago
Precisely. And studies showed that code is read by humans far less than assumed. And, in my experience, understood even less. Instead, it is rewritten from scratch. See also CADT development paradigm: Cascade of Attention Deficit Teenagers https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html :-)