Never use the word “User” in your code

https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/09/21/users-considered-harmful/

by iTokio • 7 years ago

3 5 7 years ago

PaulHoule2• 7 years ago

I had a boss who said "drug dealers have users, but we don't..."

Then you often wind up with a set of "personas" that are set from the top down and that are inconsistent and have the kind of mismatch with reality that never seem to bother neurotypicals but they sure make it hard to implement things on a computer!

eesmith2• 7 years ago

FWIW, "user" predates actual electronic computers.

For example, the article "Punch Cards for a Chemical Bibliography" from 1945, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cen-v023n018.p1623 describes a "simple punch card system of indexing and sorting of scientific bibliography". The authors write:

The manner in which the meanings are given to the holes is dictated by the need and the ingenuity of the user and by the classes into which he wishes to sort the cards.

My working hypothesis is that the term "user" in software came from earlier use in library system and earlier information management systems like punched cards. (I haven't done any sort of extensive analysis to see if my thought it true, just that I came across 'user' in several papers from the 1940s.)

PaulHoule2• 7 years ago

Back when I worked in the library world, we always used the word "patron".

msie• 7 years ago

Hmmm, code without rules eh?

Never use the word “User” in your code

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