Novices generally don't have enough experience to distinguish between situations that require a "best" practice and those that don't, hence advice given to novi

Novices generally don't have enough experience to distinguish between situations that require a "best" practice and those that don't, hence advice given to novices is generally phrased in absolute terms: "Never...", "always...", etc. Experienced programmers have used the "best" practices enough that they know their limitations, and so they pick and choose accordingly. pragdave gave a great talk on this very subject a few years ago: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Developing-Expertise-Dave-Thomas http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Developing-Expertise-Dave...