On 23/02/2008, at 2:09 AM, Landon Blake wrote:
I actually am writing code, and I'm trying to find the balance between
conciseness and legibility. I thought some fellow geowankers would
have
some insights that could help me with my own decisions about source
code
comments.
if you want to venture into best practice for software development
rather than georelated matters, then there's a whole other field out
there. I would recommend "Pragmatic Programmer", http://
www.pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer ... and I have heard good
things (but haven't read) about "Code Complete".
Be warned that it's an endless rabbit hole, and there are hundreds if
not thousands of books that tell you bits and pieces of how to code
well. There are comparatively few books that tell you how to put
those pieces together to build a complete system. Structure and
Interpretation of Computer Programs is one that tries to do this (and
fails, imho).
Part of the problem is that it's possible for programmers to fall
into the trap of elitism, which is insisting on overly elegant
solutions to limited subsets of problems, which is where functional
programming ends up... "We could do these amazing things if the real
world was just a little bit different!". Yep, give me a call when it is.
As with most things, judging by the results is the quickest and most
reliable way of evaluating something. Apple are doing amazing things,
and they're using Objective C. I won't bother talking about anything
in a web browser, as that's an aberration caused by trying to cram
too much into too little.
You know there's something wrong when your amazingly fast
supercomputer (by 1990's terms) struggles to display more than a
Commodore 64.
My posts are not targeting or naming people in particular, as I'm
also aware that I'm not exactly pumping out reams of productive work
myself. I will do that when the time is right for me, but it is also
undeniable that the GIS field is like AI - old and not in good shape.
Why are companies like Google Earth, Microsoft and Earthmine doing so
much better?
--
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