Things Programmers Should Never Say: “Who Wrote This Awful Code ”

https://shubhamjain.co/2017/02/25/things-programmers-should-never-say--who-wrote-this-awful-code/

by chrisperkins • 7 years ago

2 2 7 years ago

photonios• 7 years ago

I've cut my fair share of corners to ship a product on time. Every time I somehow decide that cutting a corner is justified, I leave some comments in the code explaining why I decided to cut corners and how I think it should actually be done. I usually put something similar in the commit message.

As the company I worked for scaled from three guys to 50+ people, these comments have helped newcomers to the code base tremendously. Whenever someone encounters some not-so-great implementation, they know why and there are some pointers on how to make it better. It's been especially helpful to students/juniors we've hired that would maybe not even have figured out that the solution is sub-optimal.

It also prevents future me from coming back to some code and starting to harbor passive aggressive feelings towards past me.

airbreather• 7 years ago

I wonder how many times someone has said that to realise it was them.

Things Programmers Should Never Say: “Who Wrote This Awful Code ”

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