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...
  • Lysergid@lemmy.ml
    12·
    8 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·
      2 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·
      3 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@lemmy.ml
    152·
    9 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@lemmy.ml
      20·
      9 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.”