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The Best Engineers Write Less Code

shvetsm.github.io

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Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#11

Post by imtringued »

rootnod3 wrote: post #6
paul_knox wrote: post #4

Coding used to be bottlenecked by typing speed; now, it’s bottlenecked by our ability to comprehend and maintain.

I highly doubt it was ever really bottlenecked by typing speed. If _that_ is your bottleneck then you either don’t care about what you write or you have a perfect plan laid out and just need to type it in.

If it's well trodden ground like writing enough Vulkan to display a triangle? It's probably bottlenecked by code writing speed.

In fact, writing a video game engine is probably the most common project on the planet to the point there is hardly anything novel about it. That's how engine writing nerd snipes people. They get to feel secure due to the guaranteed possibility of success. Making and designing an actual game that people want to play is much more risky and it is much less dependent on programming skill.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#12

Post by karmakaze »

tommica wrote: post #8

The "go delete some code" link goes to a 404 page, which is quite fitting :D wonder if it was on purpose...

Links are broken--proper ones below. They all have a similar tone/structure, like it had a few seeds of originality but then got 'produced'. More style than substance/depth for my liking.

[0] https://shvetsm.github.io/posts/who-looks-at-the-code/

[1] https://shvetsm.github.io/posts/keep-the-kitchen-clean/

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#13

Post by NekkoDroid »

imtringued wrote: post #11
rootnod3 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly doubt it was ever really bottlenecked by typing speed. If _that_ is your bottleneck then you either don’t care about what you write or you have a perfect plan laid out and just need to type it in.

If it's well trodden ground like writing enough Vulkan to display a triangle? It's probably bottlenecked by code writing speed. In fact, writing a video game engine is probably the most common project on the planet to the point there is hardly anything novel about it. That's how engine writing nerd snipes people. They get to feel secure due to the guaranteed possibility of success. Making and designing an actual game…

Why you aren't entirely incorrect, I would argue you also aren't entirely correct.

With Vulkan the hard part isn't the typing, it's the understanding and figuring out an abstraction that suits you/your project that is the hard part. And kinda the same with writing a game engine. There is basically infinite resources and libraries to make it easier, but what you actually are spending your time on is figuring out an abstraction that makes sense for the user of the engine. There is a reason why almost no 2 engines end up with even close APIs.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#14

Post by rootnod3 »

NekkoDroid wrote: post #13
imtringued wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's well trodden ground like writing enough Vulkan to display a triangle? It's probably bottlenecked by code writing speed. In fact, writing a video game engine is probably the most common project on the planet to the point there is hardly anything novel about it. That's how engine writing nerd snipes people. They get to feel secure due to the guaranteed possibility of success. Making and designing an actual game…

Why you aren't entirely incorrect, I would argue you also aren't entirely correct. With Vulkan the hard part isn't the typing, it's the understanding and figuring out an abstraction that suits you/your project that is the hard part. And kinda the same with writing a game engine. There is basically infinite resources and libraries to make it easier, but what you actually are spending your time on is figuring out an ab…

Exactly. And when writing your own engine, you _should_ type these lines to render a triangle definitely by hand, to understand what is being done and then use that input to build the right abstraction so one doesn't have to type it over and over again.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#15

Post by xingped »

Unfortunately you're indexed on and promoted based on how much code you write, not how little. There's a very real reason the meme of "promotion driven development" exists. You'll never get favorable review making sound choices that minimize the amount of new code that is needed. Believe me, I tried.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#17

Post by jghn »

xingped wrote: post #15

Unfortunately you're indexed on and promoted based on how much code you write, not how little. There's a very real reason the meme of "promotion driven development" exists. You'll never get favorable review making sound choices that minimize the amount of new code that is needed. Believe me, I tried.

You're indexed on, and promoted based on how much value you provide. LOC is not the same as value.

If I can close 100 tickets with less code than someone else, I've still closed 100 tickets.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#18

Post by xingped »

jghn wrote: post #17
xingped wrote: post #15

Unfortunately you're indexed on and promoted based on how much code you write, not how little. There's a very real reason the meme of "promotion driven development" exists. You'll never get favorable review making sound choices that minimize the amount of new code that is needed. Believe me, I tried.

You're indexed on, and promoted based on how much value you provide. LOC is not the same as value. If I can close 100 tickets with less code than someone else, I've still closed 100 tickets.

Gee wouldn't it be nice to live in your perfect little fantasy world where all managers are perfect and capable people and have more than two brain cells to tell the difference.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#19

Post by jghn »

xingped wrote: post #18
jghn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're indexed on, and promoted based on how much value you provide. LOC is not the same as value. If I can close 100 tickets with less code than someone else, I've still closed 100 tickets.

Gee wouldn't it be nice to live in your perfect little fantasy world where all managers are perfect and capable people and have more than two brain cells to tell the difference.

I've been a professional developer for going on 30 years now. I have never once seen anyone measured by lines of code. That died out before my time.

I've seen a host of other imperfect measuring sticks, including the "tickets" metric I cited. But the post to which I was replying said that people are judged on how much code they write.

Re: The Best Engineers Write Less Code

#20

Post by Isamu »

xingped wrote: post #15

Unfortunately you're indexed on and promoted based on how much code you write, not how little. There's a very real reason the meme of "promotion driven development" exists. You'll never get favorable review making sound choices that minimize the amount of new code that is needed. Believe me, I tried.

Not quite lines of code.

The person who takes a business problem and proposes an expansive solution that requires a big team that they lead to victory, that person climbs the ranks.

The person that takes the same business problem and carefully simplifies both the problem and the solution, and delivers it themselves, is rewarded but not at all like the team leader.

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