Software Aesthetics

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Posted by michael on Tuesday September 4, 2001 @08:48AM from the when-tidy-is-not-sufficient dept.

cconnell writes: "Most software design is lousy. Most software is so bad, in fact, that if it were a bridge, no one in his or her right mind would walk across it. If it were a house, we would be afraid to enter. The only reason we (software engineers) get away with this scam is the general public cannot see inside of software systems. If software design were as visible as a bridge or house, we would be hiding our heads in shame. This article is a challenge to engineers, managers, executives and software users (which is everyone) to raise our standards about software. We should expect the same level of quality and performance in software we demand in physical construction. Instead of trying to create software that works in a minimal sense, we should be creating software that has internal beauty." We had a good discussion on a related topic half a year ago.

9 of 748 comments (clear)

Beautiful software by quartz · 2001-09-04 08:50 · Score: 3, Funny

My software is so ugly it's beautiful. I'm coding in Perl these days. :)
software is incredibly complex... by swagr · 2001-09-04 08:51 · Score: 3, Funny

kind of like the innards of a biological organism.

Ever disected anything? It's MESSY.

--

-... --- .-. . -.. ..--..
1. Re:software is incredibly complex... by ethereal · 2001-09-04 09:11 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  They just happens to ooze.
  
  That's a feature, not a bug :)
  
  --
  Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
2. Re:software is incredibly complex... by sharkey · 2001-09-04 09:47 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Well, there IS an ephemeral beauty in the sight of the innards of a luser splashed about the bottom of an elevator shaft. Or on the wall. Or in ... Hell, it's just beautiful.
  
  --
  
  --
  "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
3. Re:software is incredibly complex... by MrEd · 2001-09-04 10:31 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Software evolves? Not in Kansas it doesn't!
  
  --
  Wah!
Re:Open Source, of course by CrosseyedPainless · 2001-09-04 09:06 · Score: 3, Funny

That's the truth. I know every time I have to show someone my working code, I have to do a parental-visit-strength clean-up before letting them see anything. Of course, we should keep it clean as we go....
Re:Not this stupid 'programming is art' BS again! by jazman_777 · 2001-09-04 09:33 · Score: 3, Funny

Now now. Art can be seen in any type of medium, even coding.

The key is to format the code so it looks like an ASCII figure of a bug. The viewer, if he is hip, will appreciate the irony.

--
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Absolutely! And furthermore... by avdi · 2001-09-04 09:45 · Score: 2, Funny

...Isreal and palestine should lay down their arms and live in peace; the oil companies should all band together to clean up the environment; all the children in the Third World should be fed; science should invent a cure for AIDS; and Palm should open-source BeOS.

In the meantime, the author of this article ought to turn his attention to explaining to managers *why* they should care about beautiful software design. Until management gives us the time and budget to do otherwise, we engineers are just going to keep on writing code as well as we can within the contraints we're given. It's not like we *enjoy* writing crappy software.

--

--
CPAN rules. - Guido van Rossum
We'd be screwed if people started coding better... by Mustang+Matt · 2001-09-04 17:28 · Score: 2, Funny

I mean what would we do with all this 1 GHz+ processors and 512mb+ chunks of ram? If everyone starts coding better we could go back to older machines and be faster than we are now.

--
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin