From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,d95b511473b3a931 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,d95b511473b3a931 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,8ff817fc5c863f82 X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,d95b511473b3a931 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: fjh@murlibobo.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson) Subject: Re: software engineering and the notion of authorship Date: 1996/07/08 Message-ID: <4rrgj8$nlu@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 167223139 references: <4quk22$78@krusty.irvine.com> <4r059t$2at0@info4.rus.uni-stuttgart.de> <4r3bp1$cea@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM> <4rg3ph$2on4@info4.rus.uni-stuttgart.de> <4rjhv6$ilu@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU> <31E0CF36.FDC@tick.infomatik.uni-stuttgart.de> organization: Comp Sci, University of Melbourne newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.software-eng Date: 1996-07-08T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Jakob Engblom writes: >Ego-less programming is absolutely necessary to produce large functioning >software. Or at least to maintain it later. That's a slogan. If you have some justification for it, please state it. >> If there is a problem >> in a particular piece of code, it makes sense for the expert on >> that subsystem to be the one to fix it. They'll be able to do >> it quicker, and with less likelyhood of error, than someone who >> is not an expert on that subsystem. > >Yeah, but the real problem comes 10 years down the road, when the experts >have quit or died or moved to other projects and plain do not remember the >wonderfully complicated code they created back in '96... If the code is clear, well-written and well-documented -- you should use code reviews to ensure this -- then I don't see why attaching authorship labels or assigning clear areas of responsibility is going to cause you problems 10 years down the road. >Using a "just complicated enough to do the job", "ego-less" programming style, >makes it much easier for the new maintenance developer working with the >program in 2006... the savings in the long run far outweigh the lack of >"personal style" in the code. Of course you should not make the code more complicated than is necessary. No self-respecting computer scientist or software engineer would suggest otherwise. I'm not arguing for personal style -- I agree that consistency makes maintenance easier. What I am arguing for is some degree of personal responsibility. -- Fergus Henderson | "I have always known that the pursuit WWW: | of excellence is a lethal habit" PGP: finger fjh@128.250.37.3 | -- the last words of T. S. Garp.