Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Code is run more than read

olano.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 325 posts

Re: Code is run more than read

#11

Post by _nalply »

Because we as programmers need to know how to progam: learning trumps all. Thus:

    learning > biz > user > ops > maintainer > author
There was that bit

    dev > *
meaning resume-driven development, but in reality it is

    learning > *
And that's the conflict programmers experience in corporate structures, for example the hassle programmers experience when they interview for a position. Employers know it too but they try to shirk it.

Re: Code is run more than read

#12

Post by solatic »

> And while we can’t just go back to ignoring the economic realities of our discipline, perhaps we should take a stronger ethical stand not to harm users. Acknowledging that the user may not always come before the business, but that the business shouldn’t unconditionally come first, either.

This is why software engineering needs licensure. Not to check if people understand design patterns, or whether people know the fad library of the day, but to set clear ethical standards and hold people to those standards by disbarring them if they violate those standards.

Or more to the point:

  society > biz > user > ops > dev

Re: Code is run more than read

#13

Post by ahoka »

_nalply wrote: post #11

Because we as programmers need to know how to progam: learning trumps all. Thus: learning > biz > user > ops > maintainer > author There was that bit dev > * meaning resume-driven development, but in reality it is learning > * And that's the conflict programmers experience in corporate structures, for example the hassle programmers experience when they interview for a position. Employers know it too but they try to s…

My gripe with most programmers that they keep re-learning the same narrow set of skills while ignore the rest that actually makes someone a efficient expert.

Re: Code is run more than read

#14

Post by gostsamo »

So, the author hijacks a perfectly good rule of thumb to build their grand theory of everything. It is all nice, clean, and wise, and besides the tortured turn of phrase is just rechewing of popular truisms.

Re: Code is run more than read

#15

Post by f1shy »

ahoka wrote: post #13
_nalply wrote: post #11

Because we as programmers need to know how to progam: learning trumps all. Thus: learning > biz > user > ops > maintainer > author There was that bit dev > * meaning resume-driven development, but in reality it is learning > * And that's the conflict programmers experience in corporate structures, for example the hassle programmers experience when they interview for a position. Employers know it too but they try to s…

My gripe with most programmers that they keep re-learning the same narrow set of skills while ignore the rest that actually makes someone a efficient expert.

I could expand that though to a much larger set than programmers!

Re: Code is run more than read

#16

Post by sirsau »

ahoka wrote: post #13
_nalply wrote: post #11

Because we as programmers need to know how to progam: learning trumps all. Thus: learning > biz > user > ops > maintainer > author There was that bit dev > * meaning resume-driven development, but in reality it is learning > * And that's the conflict programmers experience in corporate structures, for example the hassle programmers experience when they interview for a position. Employers know it too but they try to s…

My gripe with most programmers that they keep re-learning the same narrow set of skills while ignore the rest that actually makes someone a efficient expert.

What do you think programmers ignore that would be beneficial?

Re: Code is run more than read

#18

Post by YoshiRulz »

> There’s a lot of software being produced that just doesn’t care about its users [... caused by] a mismatch between what we thought doing a good job was and what a significant part of the industry considers profitable [... so] perhaps we should take a stronger ethical stand not to harm users.

Or, we could ditch the "biz" part. It just so happens that software not written to serve business interests tends to also respect users.

Re: Code is run more than read

#19

Post by danielovichdk »

murkt wrote: post #10
danielovichdk wrote: post #9

That's not the point. The point is that a computer is not involved in the creative and qualitative process, it does not care. Humans are different ad you might all know. So of course code should be readable over being runnable.

You haven’t read the article past the headline, have you? It’s not about computers running code, it’s all about humans.

"It doesn’t matter how well written or maintainable the code is, nor how sophisticated the technology it uses if it doesn’t fulfill its purpose and provides a good experience to the user"

This is what I was commenting on. And I do not agree with it because it underlines the dogma about how little craft quality means as long as someone finds it useful.

You could also hammer 3 wooden boards together and call it a chair.

But that's not for me, it's simply too shallow a mindset for being a professional software engineer.

Re: Code is run more than read

#20

Post by codebolt »

sirsau wrote: post #16
ahoka wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My gripe with most programmers that they keep re-learning the same narrow set of skills while ignore the rest that actually makes someone a efficient expert.

What do you think programmers ignore that would be beneficial?

Their working domain. If you're a developer in financial services, learn finance. If you're a developer in oil exploration, learn seismology. Don't constrict yourself to only being a programmer who writes whatever code you're told to. Be a holistic problem solver.
Post reply on HN