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: 1696ae,de62d506c7cf194a X-Google-Attributes: gid1696ae,public X-Google-Thread: fc89c,de62d506c7cf194a X-Google-Attributes: gidfc89c,public 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@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fergus Henderson) Subject: Re: software engineering and the notion of authorship Date: 1996/07/15 Message-ID: <4sdu94$ol4@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 168842550 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> <4sdhbg$r7e@nntp.seflin.lib.fl.us> organization: Comp Sci, University of Melbourne newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.unix.programmer,comp.dos.programmer,comp.software-eng Date: 1996-07-15T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: I got a useful reply from Scott Ellsworth via email; he said he wouldn't mind if I posted it. > Assuming the original poster is not a doof, what I assume he means by > ego-less programming is simply programming for clarity, not cleverness. > Often, if someone's name is atattched to a product, they get possessive, > and try to do things in the most complex and clever way they know how. > This does not actually give them a better rep in most other people's > eyes, but inexperienced programmers often think it should. > > Proper training can break someone of this, just like it can break them of > not commenting code that needs it, and proper code reviews can make > overly clever code be rewritten for clarity. Of course, if the code is > time critical and needs to be faster, then clever is good. > > Personally, I approve of pride of creation in most software projects, as > long as that includes the stated assumption that your creation will > become someone elses creation once you move to another project. That reply explains to me some of the motivations behind ego-less programming better than many of the other articles in this thread. For the moment, I remain open-minded about whether or not recording authorship is advantageous or disadvantageous overall. One thing is certain, and that is that knowing the dangers helps one to avoid them. -- 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.