Why I hate your code
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Have you ever inherited code from good programmers?
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst "I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
jeron1 wrote:
Have you ever inherited code from good programmers?
No, because good code from good programmers usually doesn't result in the client getting pissed off at the development team and switching to another code house. Marc
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I have recently been advertising myself as a plumber. Plumbers fix systems, clogged with other people's shiit and that is what we do. If it wasn't clogged, they wouldn't be calling us.
Ernst Stavro Blofeld wrote:
Plumbers fix systems, clogged with other people's shiit and that is what we do.
Except usually a clog is just in one pipe. Sure, it may take a 50 foot snake to clear it, but then it's done, unless the pipe is infested with the roots of some tree downstream, then you usually call someone else. :) Point being, it's one pipe, one tool, and a lot of muck. Code shit is a maze of pipes, numerous tools, and the muck never seems to go away, it just gets pushed around to other pipes. Marc
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
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And it's even worse when the manager who handed you the hot steaming pile has no idea that the dev who wrote it whom he had hired who has recently left the company was a hack. (What are you talking about, 'bad code', that guy was brilliant!)
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And it's even worse when the manager who handed you the hot steaming pile has no idea that the dev who wrote it whom he had hired who has recently left the company was a hack. (What are you talking about, 'bad code', that guy was brilliant!)
Daniel R. Przybylski wrote:
What are you talking about, 'bad code', that guy was brilliant!)
I've heard that a few times recently. The guy was called "superman." I so wish I could put on my blog, in big screaming caps, DO NOT HIRE THIS IDIOT!!!! Marc
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I have recently, actually. One of our senior devs left the company for greener pastures and I moved into his team to pick up his work. His code is actually quite nice, and a lot of it is way beyond stuff I have ever done before, so his intuitive naming conventions and copious comments are quite helpful.
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
Quote:
intuitive naming conventions and copious comments
...is that the sound of the wings flapping on that flock of pigs flying by? Actually, I do that myself - but usually I am the only one that sees them. I still appreciate them six months, or more, later when coming back to the code.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!
I used to hate it too, but when the company I worked for went bust 25 yrs ago and I decided to start my own business, there were several legacy systems and no-one to maintain them, so while I couldn't quite write my own cheque I did pretty well out of it, and it kept me afloat until id developed my own commercial apps, and I still have the odd customer from long ago who puts new business my way - ever cloud !! GL
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!
Concur! (welcome to my fucking world).
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!
Marc Clifton wrote:
is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers
That is the way the real world works. Projects that are inherited have a history of programmers - plural. If there was in fact a single programmer then it is unlikely that one would inherit it, either because no one ever works on it or because the original programmer still works on it. So it becomes more likely that a an inherited application has been touched by several people. And people, including programmers, following a normal distribution curve. And despite claims at company meetings in all likelihood, by betting on the odds, the company is in fact average and is never above average. So the code is going to have, at best, good parts and bad parts.
Marc Clifton wrote:
And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's sh*t.
Myself I strive towards insuring, to the best of my ability, that people that follow me, which will happen for any company that is successful which employes me, will enjoy looking at and working on my code. Since I have been a manager and have absolutely no desire to do that again, that is the best that I will be giving to the world.
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!
Well said... Made me remember this article: [^] Dicks and idiots
"... having only that moment finished a vigorous game of Wiff-Waff and eaten a tartiflet." - Henry Minute "Let's face it, after Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF!" - gavindon Programming is a race between programmers trying to build bigger and better idiot proof programs, and the universe trying to build bigger and better idiots, so far... the universe is winning. - gavindon
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I can succinctly state why I hate working on projects inherited from others, where a huge code base is inherited from bad programmers (and I have yet to work on a project where I have not inherited code from bad programmers, because quite frankly, those projects stay where they are because the client is happy!!!) It's because I'm spending my time debugging shit that isn't my shit, it's someone else's. And very few things piss me off more than having to spend even a miniscule fraction of my time on this planet fixing other people's shit. [edit]And I tend to find the most stinkiest shit written by Ruby on Rails code monkeys.[/edit] Marc
Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!
So what else is new? I have never met a developer who had anything good to say about code he inherited from someone else. We're all individually God's gift to coding are we not? Everybody else's stuff is crap! ;-)
If you think hiring a professional is expensive wait until you try an amateur! - Red Adair
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Nice, I must say it's not too often I hear that.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment "Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst "I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
Pity the bad programmer who inherits code from a good programmer. He probably wouldn't understand any of it.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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So what else is new? I have never met a developer who had anything good to say about code he inherited from someone else. We're all individually God's gift to coding are we not? Everybody else's stuff is crap! ;-)
If you think hiring a professional is expensive wait until you try an amateur! - Red Adair
I appreciate what you're saying and understand that you're probably just joking around, but I've inherited a lot of great code. Often I think, "I would have done that differently, or this really needs to be updated or refactored to a newer version of 'the framework/design pattern'", but it's consistent, and well architected. And sometimes, I'm like, "Whoa, that is awesome....!" But not very often. :)