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  3. Am I a bad programmer?

Am I a bad programmer?

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  • D declassified

    So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

    M Offline
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    Marc Clifton
    wrote on last edited by
    #16

    No, you're not a bad programmer. In fact, you sound like a very good programmer. But I think you're an idiot to work with these bozos! ;P (please take that with the humor it was intended to be, off color as it may sound) Marc

    Thyme In The Country
    Interacx
    My Blog

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    • M Member 96

      I know, I know, it's my Achilles heel. In a world where "nite" is increasingly a valid spelling, I don't see why we can't just combine your and you're and call it even. ;)


      "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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      Fred_Smith
      wrote on last edited by
      #17

      John Cardinal wrote:

      Achilles heel

      :-) strictly speaking, of course, there should be an apostrophe in there: Achilles' heel :-)

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      • M Member 96

        I know, I know, it's my Achilles heel. In a world where "nite" is increasingly a valid spelling, I don't see why we can't just combine your and you're and call it even. ;)


        "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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        C Offline
        Colin Angus Mackay
        wrote on last edited by
        #18

        John Cardinal wrote:

        In a world where "nite" is increasingly a valid spelling

        Obviously not the same world I inhabit.


        Upcoming FREE developer events: * Glasgow: db4o: An Embeddable Database Engine for Object-Oriented Environments, Mock Objects, SQL Server CLR Integration, Reporting Services ... My website

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        • F Fred_Smith

          John Cardinal wrote:

          Achilles heel

          :-) strictly speaking, of course, there should be an apostrophe in there: Achilles' heel :-)

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          M Offline
          Member 96
          wrote on last edited by
          #19

          I wasn't referring to Achilles' heel, I was referring to the commonly known concept of a singular weakness. ;P


          "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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          • C Colin Angus Mackay

            John Cardinal wrote:

            In a world where "nite" is increasingly a valid spelling

            Obviously not the same world I inhabit.


            Upcoming FREE developer events: * Glasgow: db4o: An Embeddable Database Engine for Object-Oriented Environments, Mock Objects, SQL Server CLR Integration, Reporting Services ... My website

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Member 96
            wrote on last edited by
            #20

            Living with the U.S. as our next door neighbour puts certain strains and pressures on the English language.


            "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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            • D declassified

              So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

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              Pete OHanlon
              wrote on last edited by
              #21

              Bad programmer? No. Surrounded by dross? Yes.

              Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.

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              • M Member 96

                I wasn't referring to Achilles' heel, I was referring to the commonly known concept of a singular weakness. ;P


                "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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                Fred_Smith
                wrote on last edited by
                #22

                Even so, I thought the apostrophe remained - but am prepared to stand corrected if you know better...

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                • M Member 96

                  Living with the U.S. as our next door neighbour puts certain strains and pressures on the English language.


                  "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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                  DavidNohejl
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #23

                  Rite! :-D


                  [My Blog]
                  "Visual studio desperately needs some performance improvements. It is sometimes almost as slow as eclipse." - RĂ¼diger Klaehn
                  "Real men use mspaint for writing code and notepad for designing graphics." - Anna-Jayne Metcalfe

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                  • M Member 96

                    Living with the U.S. as our next door neighbour puts certain strains and pressures on the English language.


                    "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

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                    El Corazon
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #24

                    hey, just because we can't have a news program above 7th grade level because it would confuse the general population... I am as bad as the next guy, they hire someone to fix my writing. :) They really do!

                    _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)

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                    • C Chris Losinger

                      15 years since i graduated college and i've never worked at any company where the source and/or DB were documented beyond a few lonely one-liners next to bug fixes. function headers ? hah!

                      declassified wrote:

                      Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books

                      most developers i've worked with didn't go to school for programming and i don't know anyone in real life who reads programming books (other than for reference).

                      image processing toolkits | batch image processing

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                      Dan Neely
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #25

                      I'd wag 25-40% of the lines in my source files are comments. It might've been higher at one point but I cleaned out crap comments from the previous developer at the same time I wrote good ones. Whoever wrote this was almost as bad as the OPs coworkers: //increment the counter i++; There were some good comments scattered about but the original was done based on quantity rather than quality of comments.

                      -- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.

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                      • D Dan Neely

                        I'd wag 25-40% of the lines in my source files are comments. It might've been higher at one point but I cleaned out crap comments from the previous developer at the same time I wrote good ones. Whoever wrote this was almost as bad as the OPs coworkers: //increment the counter i++; There were some good comments scattered about but the original was done based on quantity rather than quality of comments.

                        -- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.

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                        Big Daddy Farang
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #26

                        dan neely wrote:

                        cleaned out crap comments from the previous developer

                        I do a lot of that also. My belief is that it's better to write no comment than a bad comment. //increment the counter i++; That person should be taken out and shot. ;) BDF

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                        • D declassified

                          So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

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                          B Offline
                          Big Daddy Farang
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #27

                          I think not, simply because you bothered to ask. Bad programmers just pollute their way along oblivious to the stench of their product. Or so I imagine, I've never had to work with one. Just clean up after them.

                          declassified wrote:

                          Well, thanks for letting me beef!

                          That's why we're here, I guess. BDF

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                          • D declassified

                            So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

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                            S Offline
                            Stan Shannon
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #28

                            Aside from myself, I've never met a good programmer. And I'm pretty sure they would all say the same thing.

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                            • D declassified

                              So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

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                              M Offline
                              Manuel F Hernandez
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #29

                              It is the mark of a professional to recognize that he/she is a bad programer. This is when you learn to... * document your code. So others can understand the logic that could only come out of your head. * use error handling. You want to provide a graceful and informative exit when your code crashes. * ask for peer review, code walkthroughs and structured testing You want others to catch mistakes you will inevitably make before they get to production. * ask for an implementation process. Beacause implementation suprises suck big time. This includes getting the proper signoffs, resources allocated, and backout plans. * instrument you application. You you know the testers are bad testers and won't catch everything. You want real world problems to be visible before they cause serious damage.

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • M Member 96

                                I know, I know, it's my Achilles heel. In a world where "nite" is increasingly a valid spelling, I don't see why we can't just combine your and you're and call it even. ;)


                                "I don't want more choice. I just want better things!" - Edina Monsoon

                                P Offline
                                P Offline
                                pseudonym67
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #30

                                "Nite" is a bad spelling for what? Only joking ( sort of ) I'm so English I had to stop and think what you were talking about.

                                pseudonym67 My Articles[^] Beginning KDevelop Programming[^]

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                                • D declassified

                                  So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

                                  P Offline
                                  P Offline
                                  peakwu
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #31

                                  Try finding a new company where you can be identified with.

                                  YOU ARE NEVER TOO LATE TO ENJOY EVERYTHING.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • D declassified

                                    So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

                                    T Offline
                                    T Offline
                                    this drink beer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #32

                                    Nearly everyone in this thread has used bad English. You cannot combine your and you're as they have different meanings; the first is used when referring to something that is owned by a person (the possessive form of you), the second is a contraction of 'you are'. Again, the apostrophe in Achilles' is a used to denote possession, as in John's car, we just don't add an s to a word that ends in an s. Its the same thing for Their, There, They're. They all have different meanings. If you use bad English, it makes anything you write harder to read, and the reader might well make judgments about the person who wrote it. IMHO Gramr iS Gr8 :) LoL

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                                    • T this drink beer

                                      Nearly everyone in this thread has used bad English. You cannot combine your and you're as they have different meanings; the first is used when referring to something that is owned by a person (the possessive form of you), the second is a contraction of 'you are'. Again, the apostrophe in Achilles' is a used to denote possession, as in John's car, we just don't add an s to a word that ends in an s. Its the same thing for Their, There, They're. They all have different meanings. If you use bad English, it makes anything you write harder to read, and the reader might well make judgments about the person who wrote it. IMHO Gramr iS Gr8 :) LoL

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                                      B Offline
                                      Big Daddy Farang
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #33

                                      this.drink(beer) wrote:

                                      Its the same thing

                                      Excuse me for interrupting, I just feel like two cents for bringing this up, but.... That should be "it's," the contraction of it is. "Its" is the possessive. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! ;) BDF

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                                      • B Big Daddy Farang

                                        this.drink(beer) wrote:

                                        Its the same thing

                                        Excuse me for interrupting, I just feel like two cents for bringing this up, but.... That should be "it's," the contraction of it is. "Its" is the possessive. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! ;) BDF

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                                        T Offline
                                        this drink beer
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #34

                                        Well done. Obviously this was a deliferate mistale. for your cunning, you win the number 547521456988. Had you noticed the deliferate mistale just 3 minutes earlier you would have taken the Ferrari ;)

                                        B 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • D declassified

                                          So, the company I work for is pretty small, only about 8 developers. The biggest (web) app is very complicated and is chalk full of errors. To compound the issue, there is absolutly ZERO documentation in the code / database. The DB also has no Foriegn Key contraints and is only marginally normalized. I don't work on the app that much, so I'm not as familiar as everyone else is with it. Whenever a problem comes up, they can jump right to the problem, but it sometimes takes me hours.... The question is "Am I a bad programmer, or are they?" Most of us were drilled with the "document your code" as we were learning either by instructors or books, but no one here does that (except me).:mad: As far as new development goes, IMHO I think I am *better* because I grasp the concepts of normalization, documentation, OOD. All new concepts to them. I had to explain normalization and pursuede them to let me do it on some new tables I added!:mad: And this is no hole-in-the-wall company either, they have some BIG clients. Well, thanks for letting me beef!

                                          D Offline
                                          D Offline
                                          Dostoevsky
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #35

                                          Documentation? OOD? Ha! I have been programming C++ for 15 years and the only thing that counts in any company is how long you take to complete the task. Time is money.

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