[LRUG] Your Code is My Hell

[Anthony Green]

Paul Robinson wrote:

> To use a metaphor, Ruby isn't Catholicism. It's Zen. Each programmer
> needs to find their own path, and for each developer the result might
> feel a little different with each step, but we all know what we're
> heading for: flowing, elegant code that you can confidently refactor. It
> is freedom from the decisions of past or the plans of the future and to
> work with the present, here and now.

It's odd that you describe code as "flowing, elegant code" it's one of 
those notions that I encountered a great deal in that "Ruby Way" period.
I remember Marcel Molina talking about 'What makes code beautiful?'†. 
This was an attitude I hadn't previous encountered in other language 
communities.

My issue with the Zen arguement is that it's far too often a facade for 
having no discipline rather that having a or many discipline(s). I feel 
much happier with Alistair Cockburn's advice relating to Shuhari and 
adopting a multidisciplary approach.††

† http://rubyhoedown2007.confreaks.com/session09.html

†† 
http://confreaks.net/videos/343-rubyweb2010-the-7-habits-of-highly-successful-samurai-and-how-that-helps-rubyists
-- 
Anthony Green
Apprentice Developer : BBC Future Media
Developer Evangelist : Developer Outreach Group