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

Who wrote this shit?

heltweg.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 300 posts

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#171

Post by runlevel1 »

lbriner wrote: post #114

It is kind of mentioned in the article but I think a lot of developers don't realise that there isn't just good code and bad code, there is a whole spectrum and the position on this spectrum is dictated by skill, experience, time pressure, money pressure and shifting requirements (assuming you ever had any!). We pine for the perfect green field where all things are good but there are probably zero companies where all…

It's important to have empathy for those that came before you, but I do also try to be mindful of those that come after.

A comment explaining "why?" A quick refactor of your patch to make it easier to understand. A small README update. Those kind of little things add up and pay dividends.

Best write code with empathy for those that come after you -- including your future self.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#173

Post by bumby »

berkes wrote: post #157
bumby wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But always just about 'good enough' to solve the issue at hand. I think this is context dependent. I generally agree with this statement on relatively low-risk projects. The problem with "good enough" is that it often becomes a rationale for our cognitive biases to take the easier route. I don't want someone doing that on, say, safety-critical code. Maintaining high standards is a way of buffering against those cog…

> context dependent Isn't that by definition what good enough means? That on safety critical code "good enough" is a very different level than on a throwaway-script?

I suppose, but by that same token standards would be the definition of pre-defined "good enough". In my experience, the nebulous nature of the term is usually a means of rationalizing a sub-standard effort. The benefit of defining that threshold upfront is that it's hopefully more objective, before you let cognitive biases influence your decision making.

It really comes down to understanding why the goalposts have moved. Is it because you have more information to reduce the uncertainty about the risks that standards are meant to be mitigate? If so, great! If not, it's a red flag you may be responding to something else that increases risk, like schedule or cost pressure.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#174

Post by hutzlibu »

trixie_ wrote: post #170
hutzlibu wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, this is why comments are often so bad. They get ignored (and then forgotten) most of the time anyway. Like you did with my comment, where I explicitely stated, that I do write comments. Just less, than I used to. To which you just made a strawman argument of "Those two statements combined is your justification (excuse) for never writing comments and why the code you and people like you write is unmaintainable."…

You have some sort of defeatist attitude with comments saying they're ignored/forgotten. I wish I knew your life experience to see where this happened and how you formed this opinion. Is it because YOU ignored them and didn't update them with code changes? Or others did so and it got past a code review? You don't maintain your comments with your code, given your attitude it sounds like you don't. Your attitude in inf…

Erm, you realize that it was YOU, who ignored the essential parts of my comment, proofing my point? Apparently not.

Otherwise, sure:

"Is it because YOU ignored them and didn't update them with code changes? Or others did so and it got past a code review? "

Both happened. And I doubt this never happened to you. And if it really never happened to you - then you either are a superhuman - or never had to ship lots of code with a tight deadline.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#175

Post by [deleted] »

lbriner wrote: post #114

It is kind of mentioned in the article but I think a lot of developers don't realise that there isn't just good code and bad code, there is a whole spectrum and the position on this spectrum is dictated by skill, experience, time pressure, money pressure and shifting requirements (assuming you ever had any!). We pine for the perfect green field where all things are good but there are probably zero companies where all…

[deleted]

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#177

Post by rwoerz »

sshine wrote: post #122
bikingbismuth wrote: post #44

In my first corporate job out of college (a NOC at an ISP) I was asked to update the documentation for troubleshooting quality of service issues. I checked our wiki for what was already there and it horrendous. I started to mentally thrash the person and was going to go confront them about it. When I checked the edit history I was greeted by a single edit and my username a week after I started the job. I learned a gr…

I also had that moment; ask “Who wrote that shit?”, run ‘git blame’ and find yourself. This happened 1 year into my second job.

If you want to take that to the next level, accidently address an email to yourself and then complain that the "response" is all but helpful.

I mean... that could happen... hypothetically... to... someone.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#178

Post by TheGigaChad »

kasey_junk wrote: post #52
ketanmaheshwari wrote: post #8

Feel like there has been increasingly more cuss / inappropriate words showing up on top page of HN. I recommend HN to my kids. Not that they are not exposed to these words online but I would rather not come this from their parent. Not sure how to feel.

I’m not worried about my kids seeing curse words. I am concerned about the downward pull normalizing unprofessional writing has on my profession. Does it make our whole environment less professional? Does it influence us to be unprofessional in other parts of our craft? Do outside observers view us as less a profession because of it? I don’t know the answers but I certainly worry about it. Though perhaps I’m just agi…

No post body was provided.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#179

Post by TheGigaChad »

ketanmaheshwari wrote: post #8

Feel like there has been increasingly more cuss / inappropriate words showing up on top page of HN. I recommend HN to my kids. Not that they are not exposed to these words online but I would rather not come this from their parent. Not sure how to feel.

No post body was provided.

Re: Who wrote this shit?

#180

Post by trixie_ »

hutzlibu wrote: post #174
trixie_ wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have some sort of defeatist attitude with comments saying they're ignored/forgotten. I wish I knew your life experience to see where this happened and how you formed this opinion. Is it because YOU ignored them and didn't update them with code changes? Or others did so and it got past a code review? You don't maintain your comments with your code, given your attitude it sounds like you don't. Your attitude in inf…

Erm, you realize that it was YOU, who ignored the essential parts of my comment, proofing my point? Apparently not. Otherwise, sure: "Is it because YOU ignored them and didn't update them with code changes? Or others did so and it got past a code review? " Both happened. And I doubt this never happened to you. And if it really never happened to you - then you either are a superhuman - or never had to ship lots of cod…

It does happen, but it is the exception and not the rule. If you're entire argument hinges on the exception case then I'd rethink your position.
Post reply on HN