Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend.
programmingisterrible.com
“Every line of code is written without reason, maintained out of weakness, and deleted by chance” Jean-Paul Sartre’s Programming in ANSI C. Every line of code written comes at a price: maintenance. To...
  • FlorianSimon@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    4 hours ago

    I’d go easy with the recommendation to couple components loosely. If you make things that belong together loosely coupled, you’ve created obfuscation, and added complexity to your codebase. Loose coupling makes sense, but not everywhere.

  • Lysergid
    12·
    12 hours ago

    TLDR;

    My current project has mostly easy to delete code and not easy to extend. Why? Coz shit was copy-pasted 50 times. It’s not fun to work in this project.

    • Kache@lemm.ee
      2·
      6 hours ago

      I don’t understand, if you’ve got easy to delete copy-pasted code, then delete it. It’ll be a nice and cathartic exercise.

      But sounds like what you’re really talking about is code that isn’t easy to delete.

    • yournameplease@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      7 hours ago

      Same thing on my project. Thousands of lines across a few dozen files copied 100+ times. At that point there’s almost no going back with everything diverging so long ago.

  • drspod
    172·
    14 hours ago

    “Every line of code is written without reason, maintained out of weakness, and deleted by chance” Jean-Paul Sartre’s Programming in ANSI C

    Is this a joke or an AI hallucination? I’m pretty sure Sartre never wrote about programming in ANSI C.

    There is a book called “Programming in ANSI C” by E. Balagurusamy

    I can only find other references to this quote from sites that are linking this article.

    The article actually does date back to 2016 so it’s not AI generated.

    • drspod
      22·
      13 hours ago

      I should have tried a bit harder to search, the original quote by Sartre is:

      “Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.”