The Unavoidable “Boring Stuff”

If you’ve ever worked with C++ and then switched to Python or Swift, you might get the impression that it’s almost impossible to write poorly-written programs anymore. But strangely enough, that’s not the case.

In fact, despite the fact that programming languages have become more robust and fool-proof over the years, the amount of crappy software seems to keep increasing.

The main reason is that people have become impatient: most of us don’t want to fiddle with the “boring stuff” such as data structures, object orientation, design patterns, etc. Instead, they import a few packages from here and there, copy-paste some code from StackOverflow, and expect everything to come together into a nicely working application.

It’s like buying random ingredients from the grocery store, throwing everything in the oven, and expecting it to magically turn into a delicious Coq au vin. 😉

I’m blaming the big corporations for allowing this to happen. In order to maximize their profits, they have cut down on the time it takes to create a product. They’ve hired less experienced programmers who have little to no idea how to write elegant code and create robust applications. Yet they feel entitled to start arguing if you question their shady solutions:

“It does the job. So, what’s your problem?” Do you know how many times I’ve heard that line?

We need to revive the traditional values of programming, where careful planning and consistent testing was the norm. We need to educate our developers on good coding practices and bring back the importance of quality over quantity. And please don’t use agility as some sort of excuse for laziness or mindless rush to release.

Have a better new year! And let’s get back to creating great software.

#softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering #artofcoding #qualityoverquantity