is this code meant to be pretty, or teach others how to do things? or is this part of something thats never seen but serves thousands of customers per second?

is this code meant to be pretty, or teach others how to do things? or is this part of something thats never seen but serves thousands of customers per second? It all depends on what you're using it for. The more important it is, the easier it gets to forgive "ugly". For many things "works at all" serves, and you're better off never revisiting those things that could have been done better until they actually become a problem.