Re: Is well written code a rare species ?

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:40:18 GMT, "Bob Day" <xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
>"Anonymous George" <someone@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:pan.2005.08.12.17.56.50.318008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Good day everyone,
>>
>> This is my second job now. By now, in my 10 year career,
>> I have had to maintain some programs that were written
>> by others. Most of those programs were badly written.
>> Global variables all over the place, way too long functions
>> with hardly any useful comments, badly chosen function names,
>> you name it.
>>
>> Is bad programming common practice ?
>> Is well written code a rare species ?
>>
>> I ask this, because I want to know if I should change
>> myself or if I should just go to another employer.
>> My current job is driving me crazy, because it takes so much
>> effort to do even the simplest modification to the application.
>>
>> And how can I learn during a job interview whether the company's
>> product has high quality source code ? I know every company will
>> say that about themselves.
>
>Get a job developing code rather that maintaining it. Make it
>clear up front, during your interviews, that you are a developer
>not a maintainer, and, in fact, that you suck at maintaining code.
>That's what I did before I worked on my own, and I'm sure it
>took me a lot longer to get jobs that way.

I'm sure it did. I'm also sure that I wouldn't want products from a
company who would hire someone with that philosophy.

When I worked as a development manager, every developer was required
to spend time doing maintenance. It helped prevent stuff like the OP
is describing.

> On the other hand,
>I was always successful in getting work I enjoyed.
>
>--Bob Day
>http://bobday.vze.com
--
Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
removebalmerconsultingthis@xxxxxxx
.