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3) Cleanup the code Cover your tracks
FTFY
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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I thought the survey was asking what areas needed improving within my coding.
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People who write code (and any code so written) as if they are the only person in the world...
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That is 100% true mate. some coders think, the written code is his lunch box.
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Why wasn't this on the list?
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Because you're a pretty poor programmer if you think programming language matters...
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Technically, language really shouldn't matter. Having said that, most VB code I've had to review or tweak has been horribly written. My observation is that at least in my experience, VB coders tend to be self taught with terrible programming habits. Gives both VB and coders a bad rep.
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Amen to that!
But to imply that a particular language is "bad" is just unprofessional.
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To imply that a person is a bad programmer because they make a joke about VB is unprofessional and anti-social. You are hereby off my Xmas list!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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I didn't imply, I stated!
A joke in internet fora is followed by a "smiley" or some kind of emoticon to imply joke. No such emoticon was included in the OP., therefore the OP didn't make a joke, but was dead serious!
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You are seriously off my Xmas list.
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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The problem is that VB is a "lazy" language - which makes it easy to learn, and even easier to write bad code in.
And people who start off with VB tend to think the same way: that the way VB works is wonderful, and all other languages restrict them too much by stupidly insisting on the coder spelling out what he wants to do instead of lettign teh compiler have a guess.
So you end up with code that the compiler has guessed, got it wrong, so more code has been wedged in to force the code to work (ish) without the coder knowing exactly why it didn't work in the first place!
And as if that wasn't enough reason, any language which has "On Error Resume Next" is straight from the pits of hell and should be returned post haste!
Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)
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OriginalGriff wrote: The problem is that VB is a "lazy" language
It's a language for airheads.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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As a self taught coder with 17+ year’s professional experience, I take objection to your assessment. The industry's obsession with denouncing self teaching and the entire BASIC family of languages really irritates me. Although I can understand how they tend to be linked together. It's no accident self taught coders tend to sprout from BASIC, that's what the language was designed to do. I cut my teeth on GW-BASIC back in the 80s.
In all fairness I can see how self taught coders tend to have a higher percentage of bad habits. However in my observation during countless coder interviews & hires I've found recent college grads are to be voided, unless the project can withstand a productivity drag. Even grads at the top of their class require significant coaching. I find it sad that US colleges seem to be unable to produce coders that can step into a corporate environment and get the job done.
All that said, during those same interviews I realized something else. Self taught coders tend to have raw talent and a wonderful drive to learn. College tends to instill a broad (sometimes even deep) skill base. The best among us tend to have tons of talent, drive, and education.
And for the record… current versions of VB ARE THE SAME AS C# with slightly different syntax. You cannot make an assessment to one without it also applying to the other. IMHO this has caused VB to lose some of its self-teaching ability.
- great coders make code look easy
- When humans are doing things computers could be doing instead, the computers get together late at night and laugh at us. - ¿Neal Ford?
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Repeating code is the worst! It's terrible to maintain a code that is repeated everywhere! Also 'misleading variable names' is really bad..
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Languages, paradigms, frameworks: they're churned out like gas from undercooked beans.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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'All of the above' really isn't necessary. Some of the problems can be corrected easily with modern IDE reformatting and refactoring tools.
That leaves:- Inadequate / incorrect comments
- Mystery side-effects
- Magic numbers
- Swallowing errors
- Not checking input parameters, return values, null testing
Each of these problem areas can arise in code that is otherwise elegant. The problems themselves tend to be inter-related - you get mystery side-effects when you swallow errors, errors that arise from magic numbers (like array sizes) that aren't correct. They aren't amenable to simple fixes, in that each problem needs to be examined individually and an appropriate correction made.
My approach to this sort of thing has been to reformat and refactor until the code is in readable form, and then start defeating the remaining problems in detail.
Software Zen: delete this;
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That was my take also, but you beat me to it!
As I grow older I've found that pleasing everyone is impossible but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake.
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Beat me to it - those were my thoughts as well.
Any decent IDE can easily deal with comments, formatting, etc. It's the other problems that are more important, especially not checking parameters. My last major project had huge issues with people not checking return values or performing even simple testing.
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...is forcing programmers to maintain old or foreign code. Should be punishable by doubled salary.
regards,
Kate
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Looks like you want to punish managers, forcing programmers to maintain old or foreign code, by doubled salary.
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Is it really punishment though? I choose to see it as a fair compensation. Foreign code maintenance (scavenging really) should probably also include one more week of vacation to calm the nerves. I'm glad, that I'm usually on the opposite side doing adoption of cutting edge technologies. But once in a while...
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Agreed - I was interviewing with one company who was looking for MFC developers. When they ask for something well past its sell-by date like MFC, I always give them a highly inflated number.
It amazes me how many companies want people to work on old legacy crap without a premium. Then they wonder why there's a 'shortage of engineers'.
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