What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

I'd be curious to see if there's a relationship between 'ugly hack' in code commits and the languages being used (though it'd probably say more about the programmer than the language). The bar chart on the left of the page hints that it's possible, but would have to be normalised.

My hypothesis is there'd be no real difference, but it would be fun to explore nonetheless.

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#5

Post by duiker101 » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 9:48 AM UTC

KhalPanda wrote: post #2

It looks like ugly hacks are far more popular than clever ones. https://github.com/search?q=clever+hack&type=Code&ref=search...

because "ugly hack" is a warning to however might want to fiddle with it, clever hack is more just a show off.

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#6

Post by KhalPanda » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 9:50 AM UTC

duiker101 wrote: post #5

KhalPanda wrote: post #2

It looks like ugly hacks are far more popular than clever ones. https://github.com/search?q=clever+hack&type=Code&ref=search...

because "ugly hack" is a warning to however might want to fiddle with it, clever hack is more just a show off.

That, and ugly hacks are easier. I was only kidding. :-)

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#7

Post by fuzzix » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 9:55 AM UTC

amirmc wrote: post #4

I'd be curious to see if there's a relationship between 'ugly hack' in code commits and the languages being used (though it'd probably say more about the programmer than the language). The bar chart on the left of the page hints that it's possible, but would have to be normalised. My hypothesis is there'd be no real difference, but it would be fun to explore nonetheless.

> I'd be curious to see if there's a relationship between 'ugly hack' in code commits and the languages being used

Perl is not in their list.

Either everything we do is an ugly hack, or everything we do is simple and elegant. :)

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#8

Post by n0body » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 9:55 AM UTC

I have no idea why this is on the front page.

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#9

Post by reidrac » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 9:57 AM UTC

KhalPanda wrote: post #2

It looks like ugly hacks are far more popular than clever ones. https://github.com/search?q=clever+hack&type=Code&ref=search...

Look for dirty hacks; still... C way ahead the rest.

Interesting that "ugly" places PHP over Javascript, but "dirty" is the other way around.

I wonder what does it mean. The comments and the "ugly" or "dirty" qualifiers are just part of the perception of the person writing the comment, and they're contributing to spread that perception to others.

What qualifies as "ugly", "dirty" and "clever", or even as "hack", may be quite different depending on the language and the community behind it.

Re: What happens when you search 'ugly hack' in GitHub

#10

Post by JetSpiegel » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 10:00 AM UTC

400k results for C, the next one is 40k for PHP