The Duct Tape Programmer

Post by collyw » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 10:50 AM UTC

fit2rule wrote: post #46

collyw wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly is the problem with IDE's? Why should I have to learn a hundred cryptic keyboard shortcuts to get what I consider normal functionality? I have in the past used Perl's command line debugger. Why would I want to do that when I have a far more efficient graphical debugger in Eclipse? I work with bioninformaticians, and many of them are too lazy to have ever set up an IDE. Most of them won't have had autocom…

What exactly is the problem with IDE's? You appear to be advocating a new: [ ] cloud-hosted [ ] locally installable [ ] web-based [ ] browser-based [ ] language-agnostic [ ] language-specific IDE. Your IDE will not succeed. Here is why it will not succeed. You appear to believe that: [ ] Syntax highlighting is what makes programming difficult [ ] Garbage collection is free [ ] Computers have infinite memory [ ] Nobod…

Post by mchahn » Mon, Feb 16, 2015, 8:28 AM UTC

hckr1292 wrote: post #32

joesmo wrote: post #20

'Zawinski didn’t do many unit tests. They “sound great in principle. Given a leisurely development pace, that’s certainly the way to go. But when you’re looking at, ‘We’ve got to go from zero to done in six weeks,’ well, I can’t do that unless I cut something out. And what I’m going to cut out is the stuff that’s not absolutely critical. And unit tests are not critical. If there’s no unit test the customer isn’t goin…

"I think both the duct tape engineer and his opposite are both extremes to be avoided most of the time." Very true! Everything in moderation. My first job in software development was addng features or fixing bugs in Drupal sites built by people who had left the company. These were fantastic engineers, but I pulled my hair out every day and fantasized about unit tests, documentation, or even a clue about what was goin…