Live data from Hacker News

Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 34 posts

Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

#1
As the title says. Do companies exist where the software they create isn't a series of band-aids, duct tape, and chewing gum? The more I work the more I realize that the concept of good code doesn't exist and even good process doesn't exist and everyone does their job haphazardly. Is everything really as hopeless as it seems? I keep wondering why I even started in this career.

I'm a perfectionist by nature and all I see are people writing way more code than I do and slapping it all together with a nonsensical speed just to get things out the door.

Re: Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

#7
What people might be missing is that you don't do anything "lean" without refactoring sprints. So as you grow, you keep considering the macro structure. If not, you should use TDD at least.

Nevertheless, validation is key, from an executive POV. It makes sense that things are dirty in the beginning, but they should start being encapsulated, object oriented, properly interfaced, etc. as soon as you feel in need for a second programmer.

Re: Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

#8
post #5

google, banking, surgical robots, etc. look at companies that kill if they fuck up. dont count on random crup web app shop to give a crap about clean code.

Banking software more often than not is the epitome of software held together by duct tape. It's a jumble of obsolete systems communicating via convoluted and opaque protocols.

Think COBOL, mainframes, huge, cumbersome application servers and database systems.

It's just that banks have enough money to throw at problems that arise with these systems.

Re: Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

#9
Some kind of sarcasm with truth inside.

Only you and your colleagues will see your code, your product will see all others. If you want to satisfy your colleagues and yourself with clean/elegant code, go and code side project only for them. If you want to ship real product, then ship it even though it contains lots of shit code. Thats one of the reasons why people just code, not make it clean at first

Re: Do companies exist where software isn't done with chewing gum and duct tape?

#10
Look for companies that maintain a software for decades.

Agencies and fresh startups often optimize for speed, not maintainability. But there are plenty of companies that optimize for maintainability, you just have to look for them.

Mentions of code reviews, automatic tests, SOLID, DDD etc are usually good signs.

Post reply on HN