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I started programming when the editor wars were between vi and Emacs. Somehow we've ended up on the same side. Good programmers did, in fact, refactor even wi
by patrickmay 13y ago
I started programming when the editor wars were between vi and Emacs. Somehow we've ended up on the same side.
Good programmers did, in fact, refactor even with simpler tools. They did use descriptive names. They wrote tight code because they were good programmers, not because they weren't perfectly capable of generating reams of boilerplate.
I'm seeing a lot of negative comments in this thread that miss the core points made in the blog post. Boilerplate is a code smell. The need for broad refactorings is another. Not being able to understand where methods are used is yet another. A good programmer will use tools that help him or her identify and fix those issues. IDEs allow bad programmers to create the smells far too easily.
- dfc 13y ago"when the editor wars were between vi and Emacs"? When was this armistice signed? I am afraid to know the answer but I have to ask: Who do you think the belligerents are in the current editor war?
- Ensorceled 13y agoLol, I tried emacs for a couple of months but went back to vi. I understand the broad strokes the author was applying, but it's missing the point. Modern IDE's make everybody more productive so bad programmers produce more bad code, but good programmers also produce more good code. Overall, software quality is far better than it was 20 years ago and there is more of it.
- marcosdumay 13y agoI'm one of the people that thinks that IDEs are a language smell. And yeah, boilerplate smells too. But keeping the language constant, I agree with the GP. Yeah, good programmers refactor code on any environment (grep is great), but when it's easier, a good coder has more time to think about what he's writing, instead of wondering if he let any instance of a variable pass with the wrong name.