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Three virtues of a great programmer

thethreevirtues.com

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Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#91

Post by Izkata »

woooooo wrote: post #70
GMoromisato wrote: post #28

I'd add Curiosity instead of Impatience. Impatience is related to Laziness. In both cases we want the computer to do the work instead of us. But Curiosity is orthogonal and important. The best programmers I know were always curious: Why was it built that way? Why does it give that output? Why did she say that? Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge. If you're not curious, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities…

It doesn't work as well rhetorically as having all 3 virtues be typically thought of as flaws.

Kinda works anyway: "curiosity killed the cat"

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#92

Post by Izkata »

lr4444lr wrote: post #79

That last one ("hubris") I'm going to call out. Maybe the author means another word, for what he describes, but the actual "hubris" I'm seeing among my colleagues is the belief that lots of people out there don't know how to write code, but that their own $%^& doesn't stink. It's the utter subjectiveness of "best practices" that aren't tied to actual issues of performance, security, or flexibility, or worse - blowing…

Yeah, "pride" fits better with his description.

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#95

Post by tacitusarc »

hirvi74 wrote: post #85
lr4444lr wrote: post #79

That last one ("hubris") I'm going to call out. Maybe the author means another word, for what he describes, but the actual "hubris" I'm seeing among my colleagues is the belief that lots of people out there don't know how to write code, but that their own $%^& doesn't stink. It's the utter subjectiveness of "best practices" that aren't tied to actual issues of performance, security, or flexibility, or worse - blowing…

I just look at popular Github projects and ask myself why doesn't my code look that nice? I completely agree with your take though. There is so much "distraction" in what are best practices, readability, etc.. It's all so subjective. Best practice for what? Readability for who? I feel like software engineering : engineering :: psychiatry : medicine.

I recommend this talk on that subject:

https://youtu.be/CmIGPGPdxTI?si=vOxiooCemwR7CygI

I found it incredibly interesting.

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#96

Post by tommica »

amarant wrote: post #64
tommica wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember hearing about burnout, that it becomes more likely to happen the less meaningful work you do.

What's the equivalent of "victim blaming" for sick people? Because this is that.

Really, you think it sounds that?

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#97

Post by kweingar »

woooooo wrote: post #70
GMoromisato wrote: post #28

I'd add Curiosity instead of Impatience. Impatience is related to Laziness. In both cases we want the computer to do the work instead of us. But Curiosity is orthogonal and important. The best programmers I know were always curious: Why was it built that way? Why does it give that output? Why did she say that? Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge. If you're not curious, you will miss out on a lot of opportunities…

It doesn't work as well rhetorically as having all 3 virtues be typically thought of as flaws.

Curiosity is a classical vice, I think it works

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#98

Post by hansvm »

pompino wrote: post #54

One missing virtue is never impart programming advice or wisdom on the internet - Because 10 other programmers who know nothing about you or your job will tell you in detail all the ways in which you're doing it wrong.

The internet is famously hostile. If only two other people complain about my methodology I think I must have done something right.

Re: Three virtues of a great programmer

#100

Post by dt3ft »

lr4444lr wrote: post #79

That last one ("hubris") I'm going to call out. Maybe the author means another word, for what he describes, but the actual "hubris" I'm seeing among my colleagues is the belief that lots of people out there don't know how to write code, but that their own $%^& doesn't stink. It's the utter subjectiveness of "best practices" that aren't tied to actual issues of performance, security, or flexibility, or worse - blowing…

I especially love it when these people turn code which can be debugged (breakpoints can be set and hit) into one-liners for no reason which you have to rewrite in order to even set breakpoints. Well done, I hope you’re proud.
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