This is in response to a recent post made on Limetouch.com. I figured I oughta give my 2 cents worth on something that I really really hate.
As a programmer, I think building projects from scratch is about the easiest thing to do. We are in “full control” of the development, and we’d know what kinda problems we’d face inside-out.
But what I REALLY REALLY hate the most is when I have to “build” over existing code or design patterns that really doesn’t make sense. This especially so when the previous programmer is some weird guy that mugged day and night over it, and coded very “human-unfriendly” codes. Stuff are declared all over the place, and its hard to trace a single error when things don’t work out.
And of course, needless to say, trying to build something over it would be a TOTAL nightmare.
My advice to all programmers, keep it simple. Scaleability is VERY important, and never code something in such a way that its difficult to scale. Also, ALL programs have BUGs, including yours. PLEASE put MEANINGFUL error messages to indicate where your program has failed. “There is an error in the application” does nothing but piss other programmers who are trying to fix your “legacy.”
YES!!! I totally agree!
Another thing I don’t really enjoy as a programmer is when the reasons to why some of the functions were implemented were NOT documented.
No one really remembers the reason after 3 years.
By: Jasmine on June 11, 2008
at 4:20 pm
Not documenting is a CARDINAL Sin of programming! If only schools could start emphasizing that….
Wait a minute, i’m supposed to be getting OUT of IT.
By: Shotgun on June 11, 2008
at 5:09 pm
Well said! Documentation was not very widely practiced during my school days, and I am perhaps guilty of not documenting as well. The only time when I would document is if someone else other than me would be actively involved in the project. Back in my poly days, no documentation means people who wanna rip my work don’t understand what or why exactly I am doing some of the things I did.
By: Darran on June 12, 2008
at 2:39 am
Thats the biggest difference between real world and school.
Once you’ve started taking over another programmer’s codes, you’ll feel the pain. Its amazing how simple things can be made complicated beyond recognition.
By: Shotgun on June 12, 2008
at 3:29 am
[...] shares what he hates about programming. Shotgun follows with a blog post sharing his take. Now, it is my [...]
By: Ian On The Red Dot :: What I Really Really Really Hate About Programming on June 12, 2008
at 5:31 am
I have to say that even I encounter difficulty in ‘reading’ my own codes after sometime w/o any proper documentation.
So 101% must comment and document!
By: Alien TYC on June 12, 2008
at 10:52 am
Yes, i hate programming too, especially if i were to take over someone else’s codes, and to make things worst, that fellow did not follow the coding standards such as good indentations, good variable/file naming conventions.
the WORST error message written by the previous programmer i’ve encountered was ‘ERROR in MAIN’
*rolleyes*
By: Mssheepy on June 12, 2008
at 2:14 pm
Wow, that really explained what happened! Felt like screaming that programmers name at the top of your lungs didn’t you?
By: Shotgun on June 12, 2008
at 3:05 pm