Dialogue For One

chaoticset on 2003-07-22T18:31:22

• Me: Whooo. HTML::Template and CGI::Application together look pretty neat, but I can't expect the target content people to figure out how to do that. Better write a little wrapper to the database as a little CMS.
• Self: Well, it sounds nice, but there's only a billion already written.
• Me: Wull, yeah, but so what? There's a million frequency analyzers, and a million CGI toys, and a million slack bastards like me.
• Self: You're polluting codespace.
• Me: I'm not going to make anybody use it except me and the target, and the target has the choice of telling me to go to hell.
• Self: Don't do it.
• Me: Why not?
• Self: You'll have to learn Text::Template, because the app would have to be generated on the fly. You can't store the coderefs.
• Me: I was going to learn Text::Template anyway. Not good enough.
• Self: Why make another CMS? God, there's so many. Just learn one.
• Me: No.
• Self: Why?
• Me: Well, I need the experience coding, and it's not like I can come up with anything original.
• Self: There's lots of other stuff to work on. Try again.
• Me: Well...it might not suck. You never know.

Dirty Little Secrets in Software

chromatic on 2003-07-22T20:33:32

One of the dirty little secrets of software that nobody talks about is that very few programmers can actually read code. If you want to be a better programmer, cultivating that ability will serve you well.

Re:Dirty Little Secrets in Software

chaoticset on 2003-07-23T13:49:28

It's a very good suggestion, and I think I will try to do just that. My problem with looking at other people's code has always been that my attempted adherence to style as Outlined By Larry makes my eyes averse to trying to read anything that's not indented, that's improperly indented, that does this or that, etc. As in, most code.

Now, I'm told that PerlTidy would go a long way towards fixing something like this. But, besides PerlTidy, are there any tools/techniques you'd recommend for that sort of thing? Is using tools to make source more readable and then trying to read it cheating in some form, or a perfectly natural thing to do? Or is it necessary half the time, anyway?

Re:Dirty Little Secrets in Software

chromatic on 2003-07-23T16:53:41

It's not cheating, so if it makes your life easier, do it. It's also worth learning how to read past bad indentation and style, though it takes up so much of my brainpower I can't do it near the end of the day. Start with perltidy, find a style you like, then apply it to the code. After that, don't touch the code. Just read it.

If you're not sure what something does, write a small program that does only that thing and see what it does. Try changing bits and pieces. It's very experimental and it worked well for me. If it doesn't work for you, there's probably something else that will.