4 ms·

Programming less

13 points by bootload 19y ago

downer 19y ago
dicts FTW.
edw519 19y ago
"The design of the central data structure of an app determines the quality of the app, in every way." Wow! As Edward Everett wrote to Abraham Lincoln the day after the Gettysburg address: "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
adnam 19y ago
I wish people would test their pages with a text-only browser more. The article whole article was interspersed with the phrase "permalink to this paragraph"
- philh 19y ago
  Even in a graphical browser, I found the permalink icons really intrusive. I'm used to things like that being used to sign off posts (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/erskine_steps_down/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/erskine_steps_down/), and it breaks the flow to see them at the end of every paragraph.
mojuba 19y ago
Your code at its kernel level must have this simplicity. But at the edges, where you're accommodating the minds of users, inevitably it gets a little messy. Absolutely. Your core code is usually targeted to programmers, that is, (hopefully) formally thinking folks, so you may choose to be as succinct as possible here. At the same time UI code may become illogical, non-linear mess only because their users can't think formally. Bookkeeping/accounting software is a perfect example. Those developers who prefer working on compilers, libraries or operating systems are actually those who want to get the most out of programming. Maximum joy, that is.
gills 19y ago
I agree that simplicity and elegance are key, but in my experience the UI does not inevitably get messy. The same rules apply, but you have to work at different levels of abstraction. The central structure and algorithms of a UI are no longer about the data itself, but about transforming the data (and transforming the transformer!). There's a special brand of programmer crack reserved for those who create elegant and flexible UI code.

13 points by bootload 19y ago

dicts FTW.

"The design of the central data structure of an app determines the quality of the app, in every way." Wow! As Edward Everett wrote to Abraham Lincoln the day after the Gettysburg address: "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes."

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

adnam 19y ago

I wish people would test their pages with a text-only browser more. The article whole article was interspersed with the phrase "permalink to this paragraph"

philh 19y ago
Even in a graphical browser, I found the permalink icons really intrusive. I'm used to things like that being used to sign off posts (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/erskine_steps_down/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/29/erskine_steps_down/), and it breaks the flow to see them at the end of every paragraph.

mojuba 19y ago

Your code at its kernel level must have this simplicity. But at the edges, where you're accommodating the minds of users, inevitably it gets a little messy. Absolutely. Your core code is usually targeted to programmers, that is, (hopefully) formally thinking folks, so you may choose to be as succinct as possible here. At the same time UI code may become illogical, non-linear mess only because their users can't think formally. Bookkeeping/accounting software is a perfect example. Those developers who prefer working on compilers, libraries or operating systems are actually those who want to get the most out of programming. Maximum joy, that is.

gills 19y ago

I agree that simplicity and elegance are key, but in my experience the UI does not inevitably get messy. The same rules apply, but you have to work at different levels of abstraction. The central structure and algorithms of a UI are no longer about the data itself, but about transforming the data (and transforming the transformer!). There's a special brand of programmer crack reserved for those who create elegant and flexible UI code.