Beautiful code...

re: Beautiful code... best written by two or more

noslenytram — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:00:39 GMT

I find that pair programming solves much of "not smart enough" problem. The common sense of one is always questionable. If two agree, success rates (and the chance of beautiful code) go way up.

re: Beautiful code...

Jon Kruger — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:09:09 GMT

Great points... sometimes I have to remind myself that the architecture itself is not the deliverable! It's always tempting to want to refactor some piece of old code because I want it to look better or be more "correct" from a design perspective, but many times that refactoring isn't going to provide enough business value for all the time I spent on it.

re: Beautiful code...

Oisin Grehan — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:42:41 GMT

You say "The goal is not to have beautiful, elegant, code. The goal is to have *useful* code that does what you need it to do."

I think this is too simplistic a view; they are not so easy to separate as concepts. Besides, if I was to concentrate on the latter without any attention to the former, I would probably feel compelled change careers in a matter of weeks. Constructing things that are "beautiful" [to us] is part of the joy of living day to day, no?

- Oisin

re: Beautiful code...

Frank Hileman — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:50:22 GMT

Isn't it just a catchy title? The essays inside don't have much to do with each other. "Boring designs" would not be so catchy.

re: Beautiful code...

Stu Smith — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:55:29 GMT

I'm halfway through the book, and the thing I liked most about it isn't that it has loads of techniques, or that it tries to tell you the "one true methodology", but that it makes you think. There was some code in there that I thought was horribly ugly - but I was always thinking about what might be more beautiful.

I think the title of the book is perhaps deliberately controversial - but the fact that we're all talking about it says something. This isn't a book that teaches - it's a book you argue with.

(Personally, I'd put your 30-minute argument slightly differently - any design which takes more than 30 mins to EXPLAIN is probably a waste of time).

Stu

re: Beautiful code...

Matthew Cuba — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:41:42 GMT

I suspect I can learn something from the book and will probably pick it up, but in the end, the code I write needs to work, be efficient and clear. I'm not overly concerned about writing so that the new hire can follow it; I'm concerned about writing it so that *I* can follow it 12 months from now when it needs to change and it isn't fresh in my mind. The new hire will ask if s/he has questions. I'm certainly not going out of my way to obfuscate the code. Simplicity rocks - everything else is at first clever and later a pain.

re: Beautiful code...

Charles — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 23:26:29 GMT

Michael, if it we're me I wouldn't say code level design. I would say one work unit of design. Whatever that unit might be. For some it may be a 1000 ft. overview diagram, for others it may be a page, for still others it may be a function. I think that whatever one plans to do, accomplish or delegate before re-evaluating and moving on should take no more than 30 minutes of design time.

re: Beautiful code...

Reeve Fritchman — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:52:51 GMT

Doesn't code have to be read by others and maintained by others?

In writing application code, I assume Darwin had it wrong. While writing a nice long expression may be elegant, I have to assume the 7th programmer (my target audience) working on the code will be a new hire, unfamiliar with the application, and possibly clueless. So, I'll break the long expression down into something easily digestible.

Even then, it's often not good enough!

re: Beautiful code...

Michael Giagnocavo — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:29:50 GMT

Of course correctness needs to be #1 priority in a program, but hopefully #2 will be clarity.

With respects to over 30 minutes of design being a waste of time, I'm assuming you mean purely code-level design?

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