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> On the other hand, writing code that the most junior in your team can understand leads to mediocre code. Sorry but this is absolutely false in almost all reg

> On the other hand, writing code that the most junior in your team can understand leads to mediocre code. Sorry but this is absolutely false in almost all regular corporate software jobs. As i get greyer, I find myself spending much more time planning before I write any code now; what I would previously have run into headfirst and solved with a bunch of advanced language features and complicated logic usually now ends up being implemented in much less and simpler code. This is the sign of a senior developer, in my book. Writing code anyone finds hard to understand is a marker of inexperience to me.

sdeframond 1y ago
If the problem can be solved efficiently with simple, write simple code by all means. Heck, if it can be solved with a spreadsheet, please use a spreadsheet. Even your boss can read it. But, at some point, spreadsheets crumble and become unmaintainable. And so does "basic" code. Should people keep on using spreadsheets ? Depends.
- Xss3 1y ago
  Absolutely not true. Case in point, a ledger, like a spreadsheet but simpler, hasnt 'crumbled' in a hundred years despite being as basic as it gets. Simple is good when it's fit for purpose. Sounds like your idea of simple is just bad code that is unfit for its purpose. Theyre not the same thing.
  - sdeframond 1y ago
    > a ledger, like a spreadsheet but simpler, hasnt 'crumbled' in a hundred years despite being as basic as it gets. Yet, for many reasons, your bank does not run your account with a spreadsheet. > Sounds like your idea of simple is just bad code that is unfit for its purpose Not quite. Simple is good. Do simple. But some things cannot be achieved with familiar tools. Sometime it is simpler to use an abstraction that is difficult to grasp, initially, than to write piles of code "the way we are used to" because we are afraid of "making others think". Please make me think, but only if it is worth it.
    - Xss3 1y ago
      The problem has nothing to do with the code being simple, but with it being unfit for purpose. You're conflating two separate issues.

sdeframond 1y ago

If the problem can be solved efficiently with simple, write simple code by all means. Heck, if it can be solved with a spreadsheet, please use a spreadsheet. Even your boss can read it. But, at some point, spreadsheets crumble and become unmaintainable. And so does "basic" code. Should people keep on using spreadsheets ? Depends.

Xss3 1y ago
Absolutely not true. Case in point, a ledger, like a spreadsheet but simpler, hasnt 'crumbled' in a hundred years despite being as basic as it gets. Simple is good when it's fit for purpose. Sounds like your idea of simple is just bad code that is unfit for its purpose. Theyre not the same thing.
- sdeframond 1y ago
  > a ledger, like a spreadsheet but simpler, hasnt 'crumbled' in a hundred years despite being as basic as it gets. Yet, for many reasons, your bank does not run your account with a spreadsheet. > Sounds like your idea of simple is just bad code that is unfit for its purpose Not quite. Simple is good. Do simple. But some things cannot be achieved with familiar tools. Sometime it is simpler to use an abstraction that is difficult to grasp, initially, than to write piles of code "the way we are used to" because we are afraid of "making others think". Please make me think, but only if it is worth it.
  - Xss3 1y ago
    The problem has nothing to do with the code being simple, but with it being unfit for purpose. You're conflating two separate issues.