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I have a question as a user to devs: Do you consider fixing code a bad job, as he did? The Net is filled with complaints about things that require fixing in lo

I have a question as a user to devs: Do you consider fixing code a bad job, as he did? The Net is filled with complaints about things that require fixing in lots of software that's been around a while. Yet it never seems to get done. Is this more because dev hate to fix old code by someone else -- what in the book world would be termed an editor's function -- or is this the nature of the corporate beast, to just keep moving forward?

praptak 13y ago
There are different kinds of bug fixing. Hunting for an elusive hard to fix bug might be very satisfying. You get to know the environment, you might have to construct custom tools to gather data for the debugging purposes and you obviously get the bragging rights if you succeed. Most bugs are not that challenging though. A textbox is too small to display a value, shoveling of records from point A to point B loses some data fields, this kind of stuff. You basically know right from the start what kind of fix is required and the only challenge is finding the place in the (potentially messy) code where the fix needs to be applied.
- mikecane 13y ago
  >>>Most bugs are not that challenging though. What you subsequently described is a copyeditor's function on a book. Maybe such jobs need to be described as such to attract the people who really want to do them?
xtracto 13y ago
I am a dev, and I am sure my comment won't be liked here but there it goes: Nobody likes bug-fixing: not their bugs and of course not other people's bugs. You can see this clearly in open-source software (mainly because the communication channels such as Bugzilla, forums, mailing list are all open). It is like writing documentation: programmers don't like to do it. However, fixing bugs is worse, because there is really no payoff in doing that: if you create a feature or write a program then you are doing something new... whereas when you fix a bunch of bugs, then it mens at the end you get a piece of software which is working the way it was supposed to work on the first place... so for any external observer (client, manager, user, etc) there was no value added.
- mikecane 13y ago
  >>>so for any external observer (client, manager, user, etc) there was no value added. Wouldn't it be reflected in a drop-off of calls to Support/CS?
hurfdurferson 13y ago
I'm glad you asked that. I actually really like maintenance coding. I like taking an application that was acting like garbage, identifying the good intentions within, and helping those good intentions to be expressed more explicitly in the actual function of the application. I like turning screams of rage into screams of delight. It's satisfying!
yen223 13y ago
Spending 2 years maintaining old code is a great way to kill your career - there's nothing to put under the 'Accomplishments' section of your résumé. I'm partly speaking from experience here.

praptak 13y ago

There are different kinds of bug fixing. Hunting for an elusive hard to fix bug might be very satisfying. You get to know the environment, you might have to construct custom tools to gather data for the debugging purposes and you obviously get the bragging rights if you succeed. Most bugs are not that challenging though. A textbox is too small to display a value, shoveling of records from point A to point B loses some data fields, this kind of stuff. You basically know right from the start what kind of fix is required and the only challenge is finding the place in the (potentially messy) code where the fix needs to be applied.

mikecane 13y ago
>>>Most bugs are not that challenging though. What you subsequently described is a copyeditor's function on a book. Maybe such jobs need to be described as such to attract the people who really want to do them?

xtracto 13y ago

I am a dev, and I am sure my comment won't be liked here but there it goes: Nobody likes bug-fixing: not their bugs and of course not other people's bugs. You can see this clearly in open-source software (mainly because the communication channels such as Bugzilla, forums, mailing list are all open). It is like writing documentation: programmers don't like to do it. However, fixing bugs is worse, because there is really no payoff in doing that: if you create a feature or write a program then you are doing something new... whereas when you fix a bunch of bugs, then it mens at the end you get a piece of software which is working the way it was supposed to work on the first place... so for any external observer (client, manager, user, etc) there was no value added.

mikecane 13y ago
>>>so for any external observer (client, manager, user, etc) there was no value added. Wouldn't it be reflected in a drop-off of calls to Support/CS?

hurfdurferson 13y ago

I'm glad you asked that. I actually really like maintenance coding. I like taking an application that was acting like garbage, identifying the good intentions within, and helping those good intentions to be expressed more explicitly in the actual function of the application. I like turning screams of rage into screams of delight. It's satisfying!

yen223 13y ago

Spending 2 years maintaining old code is a great way to kill your career - there's nothing to put under the 'Accomplishments' section of your résumé. I'm partly speaking from experience here.