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I've never understood the line-count craze some people get on. If it was that important, we'd all be using J or APL. Since we're not — in fact, almost nobody
by JasonFruit 14y ago
I've never understood the line-count craze some people get on. If it was that important, we'd all be using J or APL. Since we're not — in fact, almost nobody is — it must not be that critical.
- LiveTheDream 14y agoIt's just supposed to be fun, challenging, and a learning experience.
- stcredzero 14y ago> If it was that important, we'd all be using J or APL. Fallacy. You haven't eliminated the possibility that line count is important, but also that too few lines is also bad. It's widely understood that line count, even though it's a hazy and exploitable metric, is indeed important. It's also widely understood that being too terse is as bad as being too verbose. Time to brush up on some old-school CS curriculum books. (Mythical Man-Month? I'm not sure if the above is discussed there, but it's a good place to start.)
- JasonFruit 14y agoI haven't proved anything, true — I was illustrating a point with an example, not writing a series of syllogisms. What I meant to do was to direct the reader to the broader idea that our language usage doesn't suggest that line count is a pressing concern past a point that allows for considerable verbosity. Now, wasn't it more enjoyable the way I put it first?
- stcredzero 14y agoIt's more accurate and less misleading the way you put it second. The way you put it first, it suggests that you've shown that line counts don't matter.