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As a first-year programmer a project manager said to me, "I've never heard a programmer praise another's code. It's always, 'This is crap!'" So I always try to

As a first-year programmer a project manager said to me, "I've never heard a programmer praise another's code. It's always, 'This is crap!'" So I always try to be slow to criticize. There is a lot of crap, but things might not be as simple as you think. I really believe we should take more time to read and understand before we write. Or think about G.K. Chesterton's fence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Chesterton%27s_fence You should resist someone who says, "I don't know why this is here, let's get rid of it!" Only get rid of something if you do know why it's there!

nothrabannosir 11y ago
> You should resist someone who says, "I don't know why this is here, let's get rid of it!" Only get rid of something if you do know why it's there! I know this is orthogonal, but please try to avoid these situations by commenting code which people might wonder exactly that of, in the future. :(
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- PJDK 11y ago
  Even better, write a test with a name that describes its functionality.
Joky 11y ago
Oh no, I always get rid of stuff I don't know why it's there. Because if it does not break when I run "make check", it's not covered by the testing and it shouldn't have been there in the first place anyway. And if it had a use for someone, but nobody knows, removing it is also a very efficient way to figure out :)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- logn 11y ago
  This all depends on the nature of the business, the app, codebase, customers, processes of dev/QA/ops, etc. For example, this cavalier attitude might work at a social media startup but not at a bank.
jwrubel 11y ago
Thanks for posting - I hadn't really considered Chesterton's Fence as a technical metaphor but as soon as you posted I immediately thought of a person who has a habit of this very act. I'm adding this term to my lexicon.

nothrabannosir 11y ago

> You should resist someone who says, "I don't know why this is here, let's get rid of it!" Only get rid of something if you do know why it's there! I know this is orthogonal, but please try to avoid these situations by commenting code which people might wonder exactly that of, in the future. :(

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
PJDK 11y ago
Even better, write a test with a name that describes its functionality.

Joky 11y ago

Oh no, I always get rid of stuff I don't know why it's there. Because if it does not break when I run "make check", it's not covered by the testing and it shouldn't have been there in the first place anyway. And if it had a use for someone, but nobody knows, removing it is also a very efficient way to figure out :)

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
logn 11y ago
This all depends on the nature of the business, the app, codebase, customers, processes of dev/QA/ops, etc. For example, this cavalier attitude might work at a social media startup but not at a bank.

jwrubel 11y ago

Thanks for posting - I hadn't really considered Chesterton's Fence as a technical metaphor but as soon as you posted I immediately thought of a person who has a habit of this very act. I'm adding this term to my lexicon.