Ask HN: Do you try to code "proper" even on the first pass?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2906706

by keeptrying • 15 years ago

7 9 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Ask HN: On the first pass of coding something, do you hack it till you get something working or structure it well?

byoung22• 15 years ago

I write code as cleanly on the first pass as I do on the last (if there ever is a last). The reason being that if I hacked it and then showed the client/my boss that it's working, it would be hard to justify the additional time to clean it up when they want it pushed to production now.

keeptrying2• 15 years ago

Good point. But I meant working as in "your eyes only"

byoung22• 15 years ago

Gotcha...on my own projects I write very clean code, because there is never a shortage of time.

noonespecial• 15 years ago

I blast put the most bogus half-witted garbage that could possibly half work, train of thought style. It just embarrassingly bad. I go back and clean it up almost immediately while it's still fresh in the mind.

The upside is that I usually find I need only 1/3 of what I thought I needed. It doesn't feel quite so bad to throw out huge chunks of stuff I know is so bad I wouldn't want anyone to see it anyway. The worst thing in a project is something I think is really clever but just not needed. I become irrationally attached.

damoncali• 15 years ago

My code starts and stays embarrassingly bad until I need to refactor it. Eventually, the code improves. Very often, though, it gets thrown out entirely. Only profitable code deserves to be good.

Caveat: The above applies to my own business projets where I am the sole coder. I write better code for clients - it still starts out rough, but I refactor more frequently.

mikemaccana• 15 years ago

'Properly'.

But yes, otherwise I find I don't have time to fix it later. Occasionally, when I know there's a better way of doing it but am having trouble thinking of it immediately I throw a # TODO in there.

SoftwareMaven• 15 years ago

I always try to code cleanly. If there is learning going on, I may not feel it is clean at the end, but it wasn't from lack of trying.

ristretto• 15 years ago

You should not have a second pass it's a huge time waster. I like taking the extra time to optimize everything from the start. Maybe I won't finish my project within an hour, bu extra time helps as more ideas come to mind while coding

Ask HN: Do you try to code "proper" even on the first pass?

Related Stories