First off, I must admit that I'm a pretty obsessive coder with very strict rules for myself about commenting, lines per module, etc. and I realize not everyone writes the same way I do. But the way some people approach software development is unforgivable.

There is a person I work with who is not quite my boss (but has seniority so his opinion does matter) who consistently instructs me to take shortcuts instead of doing the job right. I have learned through experience, however, that short cuts take twice as long as the "right" way, not to mention you end up with a completely unmaintainable mess in the end. Careful, thought out, structured code always in my experience yields a better product that is in the end faster to market.

We were going through this all again (he was proposing yet another short cut) today and he said that ending up with messy code is a "good thing" because then the client would have to extend the contract so we could fix it. That just about sent me through the roof (hence the rant). I just can't believe that people out there have this kind of attitude, but he was serious. I take more pride in my work than that, not to mention I don't want to keep working on the same piece of software for the rest of my life. We've butt heads a couple of times over this, but I always beat deadlines so he really hasn't been able to fault my methods. Still, if he ever forces me to take a short cut I'll have to do it, and that's when my resume will go out.

OK, I feel better now.

I encounter this alot in my work as well folk telling me to do things in way i don't like or agree with


solution i do it my way anyway and don't tell them

solution i do it my way anyway and don't tell them

Ah, someone who's read the Scott Adams books.

Ferretboy, get yourself a copy of "The Dilbert Principle" and its sequels. A bible to live by.

Disclaimer right up front: I am an engineer. I am not a formal code slinger, I just got a minor in it. I never took any formal software design courses or anything (all the courses were language related).

The main simulation I use at work was coded by engineers. It is the ugliest, most painful thing to work with on this planet. The way our (honest to God, not an engineer-turned-software) software guy describes trying to do a quick fix in it is like 'putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound'. Because of their way of coding, it takes us an insane amount of time to make modifications or fix it (because we do it 'right'). It seriously pisses off our customers because we have to charge so much for our services.

That is from another component of the company (other side of the country). The way our group works is we have engineers define the requirements, and real software engineers do the coding. I'm kind of like a liason between the two groups.

Working with that chunk of code really taught me to appreciate how to do things the 'right' way. I could write a disertation on how crappy programming affects the product. I really feel your pain.

I comment my code wrong, and write methods/functions with misleading names. Example: getDBRecord() would be used to draw a widget on the screen. This ensures job security!

At the very least you should use ambiguous names for your methods/functions, like doSomething or getData. ;-)

Doing things like that will come back to bite you in the long run. If you;re not actively working on the code you'll forget what all the wierd names you gave to everything mean.

- Trevor

messy code is a "good thing" because then the client would have to extend the contract so we could fix it

The obvious retort to this is that if your applications work right to begin with, or, at least, your big fixes are quick, then your customers are more likely to buy more products and are more likely to encourage others to buy them.

Okay, well, obvious for him, not you or me.

Yeah! They make obfuscators for that, anyway.

I was half expecting that obfuscators link to point to perl.com.

Hehe... if it wasn't for people like that I'd be out of a career...

The obvious retort to this is that if your applications work right to begin with, or, at least, your big fixes are quick, then your customers are more likely to buy more products and are more likely to encourage others to buy them

Ah, but you would see the cup half full, wouldn't you? This guy is taking the negative approach, which is used all too often.

Ahhh, so that is the same reason why I buy SOOO many Symantec and Iomega products. I really like their logic.

-Biscuits

I know, I know, I was just kidding, hence the I once saw a website that gave 100 or so tips on how to ensure job security and those were included in the list.

was it this one?

http://www.geocities.com/curlybraces/Junk/unmain.html

Yes! That's so great.

Yes, I laughed very hard the first time I came across it. The only part that worries me is that some seem to follow these suggestions. I suppose its just incompetence, though.

Curious you should state your case like this - because you have written, almost word for word, my personal methodology on coding, and your responses, again, are almost word for word when pressed to short-cut. To cut it short (sorry ), I know how you feel exactly.

My considered opinion: you have two options - give up writing software, 'cos things ain't gonna change. Or second - go out and buy the biggest, heaviest gauge, f*** off repeater shotgun you can find and blow the f******** guy's head off. I guarantee you, you will feel much better afterwards, and in the gaol cell later on, you will be able to write as much properly designed, written and structured code as you want.

Hmmm, I didn't know they let you bring a computer with you to jail? Or perhaps you mean with pen and paper?