Code Quality - Ambiguity, Cleanness, Observations, Best Practices!

matteocontrini

010101 opposite opinion: Software disenchantment

Sapioit

I re-found the second video while searching for a video in which Uncle Bob of Clean Code reduced a few thousand lines app into something like 3-5 lines. I had forgotten about that video, until I saw the thumbnail again 😂

matteocontrini I don't think it's the opposite opinion. What's more efficient? To grab a handsaw, cut a branch, if you need to have the angle straight, then use the handsaw to cut a straighter angle, then put the handsaw back? Or get the handsaw, make a frame for making the cutting easier and the cut cleaner and straighter, use some formula to calculate the curvature at which you should cut for the cut to be perfectly straight, if the branch is bent (by gravity or other elements), then put the handsaw back?

Now imagine you're doing this not once in a blue moon, but thousand of times per second. Is the cost of the bit of "lost" wood worth it? I mean, it we're talking about domains where the price of the product is one of the major bottlenecks, then I get it. But in most cases, you can get away with some inefficiencies. Especially when you're not working on a Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Apple scale.

In some cases, it's more economical to just simplify the code as much as possible. And that is certainly a part of what Software Disenchantment is. Which is exactly what Clean Code requires. "It;s pretty much what you expect it."

But then again, Android, Windows, MacOSX and most of Google are not really seeming to use Clean Code, for that matter of fact. I believe that part of the inefficiency is by attempting to avoid vendor locking, and vendor-unlocking the vendor-unlocking for the vendor-unlocking, and so on. We have watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers watching the watchers and so on.

Sapioit

Kayo This article goes hand in hand with the link posted by matteocontrini (click on to get to the post) about software disenchantment. People don't seek performance anymore, they seek consumption.

010101

I think I get what you're saying. KISS - "Keep it simple stupid." Or, is it, "Keep it stupid simple?" For example, although many complain about WordPress' code, it's easy for amateurs to modify it. And, it's possible to have a fast WordPress website even though some say the code is... 🤮 And, WordPress is still to this day insanely popular. Why? Again, it's easy to modify.

BUT, I think developers will frown upon this line that you stated:

Sapioit But in most cases, you can get away with some inefficiencies.

I think the argument against a statement like that is - where do you draw the line? What if today you say, ok let's just code it this way even though it's a little inefficient. We can get away with it. Then 6 months later you hit another wall and say, hmm, let's just code this part this way even though it's a little inefficient. A year later you make another similar decision. And another. And another. Before you know it, you've got a pile of 💩 . 😆

Sapioit

010101 All those decisions can create technical debt. Just like normal debt, the more you put off paying your debt, the more it sandcastles until it eventually becomes so ungestionable that you have to entirely rewrite the code from scratch, than to try to refactor it, because of the unnecessary complexity.

Relevant links: A Taxonomy of Tech Debt, TechnicalDebtQuadrant.

Sapioit

And here is a video which I think explains very well why we have to figure things out, as a profession, before we get regulated, so we already know how the regulation should work.

Sapioit

Uhmmm... Why was this moved to offtopic?
Though the name of the discussion could be changed into something like "Code quality - ambiguity, cleanness, observations, best practices."

010101

Sapioit I'm not a moderator but it probably could have been tagged feedback instead of completely off topic. But the original tag you used, "Resources," doesn't fit. The Resources tag is more for things others can immediately use today to modify their Flarum. Maybe a tutorial, or a CSS snippet, as a couple of examples. This is more just general opinions on why one should code a certain way.

jordanjay29

Sapioit Uhmmm... Why was this moved to offtopic?

Sapioit this discussion was split from another discussion. Someone else chose that tag.

Because it was split off from a tag that didn't apply. Please don't let it affect your discussion, this is fascinating to read.

Sapioit

010101 I didn't choose the tag, this discussion was split from another discussion. Someone else chose that tag.

luceos

Discussions like these are highly opinion based. Opinions which do not immediately affect the product Flarum.

As such I agree with Jordan's decision to move this to off topic.

The subject is really interesting and I am a strong believer of keeping things simple. I always provide the example of a countryman called Pieter Levels who wrote and maintains two flagship products (nomadlist.com $ 25k+ per month and remoteok.io $ 20k+ per month) as a single php file.

Even so, apps that other people collaborate on or are meant for larger teams/organisations benefit from clear code separation and well defined responsibilities. Object Oriented code (including namespaces) entirely improve that situation and the daily happiness of coders involved in such projects.

TLDR, the larger your app (in terms of feature) the more reason to bring structure to chaos.

Sapioit

jordanjay29 Unfortunately, the tag does affect the discussion, especially from the point of view of attracting new people into the discussion. Performance might be a better tag. Maybe also Dev.

Sapioit

Another interesting link, on the same topic:
https://www.sonniesedge.net/posts/real-dark-web/

Sapioit

Another interesting link, about how expensive websites actually are, for poor people in developing countries:
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/07/web-on-50mb-budget/

Kayo

Sapioit amazing article, i have 2GB paying about US$ 6 (which means 60% of a day worked in my country - minimum wage) and never thinked about zimbabweans internet connection and probably a lot of other people around the world. We really live in a bubble.