4 ms·

Wow I would put this down as something more like "how mature are your developers?" I would never curse in a git commit message, any more than I would curse in a

Wow I would put this down as something more like "how mature are your developers?" I would never curse in a git commit message, any more than I would curse in an email to all my colleagues. No decent programmer I've worked with would, either. Completely unprofessional.

arethuza 14y ago
What about one example I encounted? boolean alanIsABastard = true; I was the Alan in question - I guess I should have been pleased it was a variable! :-)
- sylvinus 14y ago
  at least you can submit a patch to that :)
onemorepassword 14y ago
That's a prejudice I would be careful with. English is the working language for most developers all over the world, but not every culture is overly sensitive to swearing. Context is everything.
- paganel 14y ago
  > English is the working language for most developers all over the world, but not every culture is overly sensitive to swearing. I'm not an American, but it's interesting to see how strongly people from the States react to swearing. I know that for every 10 guys thinking that the usage of the word "fuck" is unprofessional there is at least one George Carlin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZwRirDOYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZwRirDOYQ), Lenny Bruce or Bill Gates (http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/), it just seems that this "puritanical" point of view has gotten stronger and stronger lately. I'd be curious about the underlying reasons.
  - samspot 14y ago
    In my opinion this view is getting weaker. I'm encountering more and more otherwise excellent technical posts or blogs that I'm unwilling to share with others because the author drops an f-bomb just for emphasis.
    - regis 14y ago
      Just the fact that you used the term "f-bomb" instead of "fuck" shows that the "puritanical point of view" alive and well. Does it really even matter what word you use if we already know what you're talking about?
      - samspot 14y ago
        On the contrary, the theme of my post shows that. Can you explain why you think the 'puritanical' attitude is a bad thing (which you are clearly assuming). Aside from any religious points anyone would like to make, I view this behavior as highly unprofessional.
        lotsofcows 14y ago
        It's humourless, homogenous, prissy, inhuman (in the sense that it removes emotional context) and fucking boring. Correlating professionalism with the above is very USAian. You should focus on breadth of successful interaction on the human side and ongoing effective fulfilment of job description. Not sure where religion comes into it outside of the Puritans who buggered off to America.
        samspot 14y ago
        I am quite sure that the concept of "polite conversation" is not american or puritan-centric. In my experience, the people using the f-word in business interactions are the same people trying to con me. Maybe this is because several of my early experiences correlated this behavior with people trying to get me to join Ponzi schemes (these 'businesses' often target college-age people in the US).
- greghinch 14y ago
  If mine is an American company, I expect the context would be American, and would expect others to be sensitive to my culture. I make every effort to be sensitive to others when I visit theirs. Tone also matters a lot. And generally, profanity is used in a negative tone. Developers who are constantly negative are like poison and should be removed from a team as quickly as possible.
  - DanBC 14y ago
    > And generally, profanity is used in a negative tone. I'm English. Profanity is used joyfully. Swearing is fun. Glorious, playful, creative. See Roger's Profanisaurus for an example. > tandoori whisper n. Silent, yet exquisitely rancid, burst of wind following an Indian meal. (http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus.html http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus.html)
jakejake 14y ago
I always enjoy finding a good rant or otherwise "unprofessional" comment when I'm going through code. It's like a little inside joke that somebody left for you. A little profanity doesn't bother me as long as its funny! I've had people tell me that they ran into a comment of mine many years after the fact and what a great laugh they got from it. Easily 99.9% of my comments are totally boring but once in a while you run into a situation where it's appropriate to vent a little.
Shorel 14y ago
PG wrote about this: "I've never heard more different explanations for anything parents tell kids than why they shouldn't swear. Every parent I know forbids their children to swear, and yet no two of them have the same justification. It's clear most start with not wanting kids to swear, then make up the reason afterward. So my theory about what's going on is that the function of swearwords is to mark the speaker as an adult. There's no difference in the meaning of "shit" and "poopoo." So why should one be ok for kids to say and one forbidden? The only explanation is: by definition." source: http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html So swear words are both: Restricted to adults only. Unprofessional. I would think a likely explanation is: they are emotionally charged. They signal danger. You are not allowed to have dangerous emotions while being a non-adult (lack of self-restraint) or while being a professional (can affect sales or internal relationships).

arethuza 14y ago

What about one example I encounted? boolean alanIsABastard = true; I was the Alan in question - I guess I should have been pleased it was a variable! :-)

sylvinus 14y ago
at least you can submit a patch to that :)

onemorepassword 14y ago

That's a prejudice I would be careful with. English is the working language for most developers all over the world, but not every culture is overly sensitive to swearing. Context is everything.

paganel 14y ago
> English is the working language for most developers all over the world, but not every culture is overly sensitive to swearing. I'm not an American, but it's interesting to see how strongly people from the States react to swearing. I know that for every 10 guys thinking that the usage of the word "fuck" is unprofessional there is at least one George Carlin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZwRirDOYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsZwRirDOYQ), Lenny Bruce or Bill Gates (http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/ http://philip.greenspun.com/bg/), it just seems that this "puritanical" point of view has gotten stronger and stronger lately. I'd be curious about the underlying reasons.
- samspot 14y ago
  In my opinion this view is getting weaker. I'm encountering more and more otherwise excellent technical posts or blogs that I'm unwilling to share with others because the author drops an f-bomb just for emphasis.
  - regis 14y ago
    Just the fact that you used the term "f-bomb" instead of "fuck" shows that the "puritanical point of view" alive and well. Does it really even matter what word you use if we already know what you're talking about?
    - samspot 14y ago
      On the contrary, the theme of my post shows that. Can you explain why you think the 'puritanical' attitude is a bad thing (which you are clearly assuming). Aside from any religious points anyone would like to make, I view this behavior as highly unprofessional.
      - lotsofcows 14y ago
        It's humourless, homogenous, prissy, inhuman (in the sense that it removes emotional context) and fucking boring. Correlating professionalism with the above is very USAian. You should focus on breadth of successful interaction on the human side and ongoing effective fulfilment of job description. Not sure where religion comes into it outside of the Puritans who buggered off to America.
        samspot 14y ago
        I am quite sure that the concept of "polite conversation" is not american or puritan-centric. In my experience, the people using the f-word in business interactions are the same people trying to con me. Maybe this is because several of my early experiences correlated this behavior with people trying to get me to join Ponzi schemes (these 'businesses' often target college-age people in the US).
greghinch 14y ago
If mine is an American company, I expect the context would be American, and would expect others to be sensitive to my culture. I make every effort to be sensitive to others when I visit theirs. Tone also matters a lot. And generally, profanity is used in a negative tone. Developers who are constantly negative are like poison and should be removed from a team as quickly as possible.
- DanBC 14y ago
  > And generally, profanity is used in a negative tone. I'm English. Profanity is used joyfully. Swearing is fun. Glorious, playful, creative. See Roger's Profanisaurus for an example. > tandoori whisper n. Silent, yet exquisitely rancid, burst of wind following an Indian meal. (http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus.html http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus.html)

jakejake 14y ago

I always enjoy finding a good rant or otherwise "unprofessional" comment when I'm going through code. It's like a little inside joke that somebody left for you. A little profanity doesn't bother me as long as its funny! I've had people tell me that they ran into a comment of mine many years after the fact and what a great laugh they got from it. Easily 99.9% of my comments are totally boring but once in a while you run into a situation where it's appropriate to vent a little.

Shorel 14y ago

PG wrote about this: "I've never heard more different explanations for anything parents tell kids than why they shouldn't swear. Every parent I know forbids their children to swear, and yet no two of them have the same justification. It's clear most start with not wanting kids to swear, then make up the reason afterward. So my theory about what's going on is that the function of swearwords is to mark the speaker as an adult. There's no difference in the meaning of "shit" and "poopoo." So why should one be ok for kids to say and one forbidden? The only explanation is: by definition." source: http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html So swear words are both: Restricted to adults only. Unprofessional. I would think a likely explanation is: they are emotionally charged. They signal danger. You are not allowed to have dangerous emotions while being a non-adult (lack of self-restraint) or while being a professional (can affect sales or internal relationships).