Hi, John,
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jhrothjr [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 3:21 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [XP] Re: Pretty code vs Good code
>
>
>
> --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Kay Pentecost"
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Hi, Everybody,
> >
> > Since I've learned to recognize "bad" code -- most of the time,
> anyway, I've
> > been really interested in figuring out what "good" code is,
> and how to
> > describe it...
> >
> > Today I stumbled across this article:
> >
> http://www.sdmagazine.com/documents/s=9472/sdm0501f/sdm0501f.h
> tml?temp=xl2u0
> > uFbvj
> >
<snip>
>
> As far as the article went, it wanted a secure connection,
> so I ignored it.
I hate it when they do that. Do they want people to read the article, or
what?
>
> I spent quite a few years as an independent contractor,
> and I agree with the "match the style" dictum when I'm
> in that situation. At least, I do if I can _find_ a style,
> rather than a hodgepodge of different styles contributed
> by a generation of developers and contractors, each
> with the opinion that _they_ knew how to write maintainable
> code.
I guess I think that when "style" meant where to put the braces and how the
fomatting is done, and existing variable names, and that sort of things, I
would definitely follow it. No question.
>
> If I'm going to be in and out, I have no traction
> to change the existing style, and I'm not going to
> try to do it "under the covers".
Ah. Yes, I understand that.
> I may very well
> make suggestions, try to get people moving in a
> direction that I think is a bit more useful, and
> so forth, but it's not my place to make unilateral
> changes in a development unit's agreed on coding
> style - even if it s3s rocks.
Ah. What if it wasn't agreed-on by a development unit, but was the work of
one programmer, who has since learned much better, and says so? If it's
more than formatting, but the use of huge amounts of duplication, unreadable
variable names, SQL in the GUI code and so on?
I'm not disagreeing with you at all... I think to keep a job or fulfill a
contract one might have to use the same style as the existing code. Trouble
is, now that I'm seeing that stuff is bad (and or unreadable) I really hate
coding that way.
In some cases, each new project is done better, but maintaining the older
projects becomes a nightmare. And if one starts out writing bad code, isn't
that setting a precedent for the type of work they expect later?
I guess I'm looking for a better motivation for following an existing style
than my paycheck...
Kay
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