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Programmer Wisdom

General Wisdom​

  • Write the code that you wish you had
    • When developing, code how you wish the object, api, etc. would work.
    • Then go implement the object, api, etc.
  • Single point of truth
    • Each piece of business knowledge should exist in exactly one place
  • Single point of responsibility
    • Each code module should have a single axis of change
  • Don't prematuraly create abstraction and simplifications
    • Duplicate code until we know for sure what we need
    • After we know what we need, then create functions, classes, etc.
  • Just hard code it
    • Don't spend a lot of time trying to import values from configuration files.
      • This adds a lot of complexity and vulnerabilities
    • Instead, just hard code values that are not intended to be changed and deal with it.
    • Also, if you do have to change a value, it's fine because deploying software is super easy and fast now.
  • Just make classes public
    • When doing application development, just make classes public.
    • In systems or framework development, you should certainly tend towards private to protect classes.
    • That said, in application development making classes public makes other app dev's job harder.

4 Rules of Simple Design​

  1. Passes the test
    • The code does what it is supposed to do
  2. Reveals intention
    • The code is legible
    • A trained developer can look at the code and understand what it does
    • Does the code show what is intended
  3. No duplication
  4. Fewest number of elements