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Ask HN: Is it true good programmers are "lazy"?

9 points by mcartyem 14y ago

alid 14y ago
The best programmers are quick, efficient and clean. Work smart not hard I say. There's a great Tim Ferriss quote: 'Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.'
shasty 14y ago
Im not sure, I have worked with some ok programmers that believed they were good programmers and were definitely proud of being lazy. Ive worked with really good programmers who worked obsessively, who thought they were lazy but really werent. I think this is a meme that doesnt have much behind it.
orangethirty 14y ago
No. I work a lot, but I make sure to automate a lot of work. Basically, just automate what you can, look for ways to automate what you can't, and keep working towards automating everything. :)
bennny 14y ago
No. Good developers work their ass off to make their dream come true.
tjr226 14y ago
Yes, but in a more holistic way than we normally use the word. Good programmers will minimize the time they spend over the lifetime of a project. This is why you don't optimize prematurely, to avoid wasting time when you already have a solution that is good enough. However, the same programmer will then be diligent about writing modular, easy-to-read code, so that editing and refactoring will be as simple as possible. Relevant - http://paulgraham.com/goodart.html http://paulgraham.com/goodart.html
CyberFonic 14y ago
I had a CS lecturer who said something along those lines. What he meant is that lazy programmers will make the effort in the short term to make their work more accurate (as in meeting the requirements), more bug-free, more robust and more scalable in the long term. So over time they end up doing less work and far less drudge work. So he was talking about a rather creative form of laziness. Some of the useful techniques I learnt were like writing scripts to automate tedious steps. Writing macros to render the code clearer. Writing small DSLs (mostly a *nix concept) to raise the levels of abstraction to better align with the domain.
se85 14y ago
Lazy is never a word I would associate with someone who is motivated enough to be a good programmer in the first place.
gusman 14y ago
The best programmers are lazy, because they spent a lot of time on their life thinking how they could automate things. They don't just accept how algoritms from life are. They think how they could improve all the time, that is more than a normal programmer will think just while in the work in optimization

9 points by mcartyem 14y ago

alid 14y ago

The best programmers are quick, efficient and clean. Work smart not hard I say. There's a great Tim Ferriss quote: 'Being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.'

shasty 14y ago

Im not sure, I have worked with some ok programmers that believed they were good programmers and were definitely proud of being lazy. Ive worked with really good programmers who worked obsessively, who thought they were lazy but really werent. I think this is a meme that doesnt have much behind it.

orangethirty 14y ago

No. I work a lot, but I make sure to automate a lot of work. Basically, just automate what you can, look for ways to automate what you can't, and keep working towards automating everything. :)

bennny 14y ago

No. Good developers work their ass off to make their dream come true.

tjr226 14y ago

Yes, but in a more holistic way than we normally use the word. Good programmers will minimize the time they spend over the lifetime of a project. This is why you don't optimize prematurely, to avoid wasting time when you already have a solution that is good enough. However, the same programmer will then be diligent about writing modular, easy-to-read code, so that editing and refactoring will be as simple as possible. Relevant - http://paulgraham.com/goodart.html http://paulgraham.com/goodart.html

CyberFonic 14y ago

I had a CS lecturer who said something along those lines. What he meant is that lazy programmers will make the effort in the short term to make their work more accurate (as in meeting the requirements), more bug-free, more robust and more scalable in the long term. So over time they end up doing less work and far less drudge work. So he was talking about a rather creative form of laziness. Some of the useful techniques I learnt were like writing scripts to automate tedious steps. Writing macros to render the code clearer. Writing small DSLs (mostly a *nix concept) to raise the levels of abstraction to better align with the domain.

se85 14y ago

Lazy is never a word I would associate with someone who is motivated enough to be a good programmer in the first place.

gusman 14y ago

The best programmers are lazy, because they spent a lot of time on their life thinking how they could automate things. They don't just accept how algoritms from life are. They think how they could improve all the time, that is more than a normal programmer will think just while in the work in optimization