Slashdot Mirror
Do Women Write Better Code?
JCWDenton writes "The senior vice-president of engineering for computer-database company Ingres-and one of Silicon Valley's highest-ranking female programmers-insists that men and women write code differently. Women are more touchy-feely and considerate of those who will use the code later, she says. They'll intersperse their code ... with helpful comments and directions, explaining why they wrote the lines the way they did and exactly how they did it. The code becomes a type of 'roadmap' for others who might want to alter it or add to it later, says McGrattan, a native of Ireland who has been with Ingres since 1992. Men, on the other hand, have no such pretenses. Often, 'they try to show how clever they are by writing very cryptic code,' she tells the Business Technology Blog. 'They try to obfuscate things in the code,' and don't leave clear directions for people using it later. "
I don't know, I've never even seen a woman programmer. And I work in the field. I bet nobody on Slashdot has either. (this is a joke!)
and see how harmonic they all work together
Men's code is sexist and demeaning whereas woman's code will marry you for the divorce settlement.
they freak out everytime they miss a period.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
"Men and women think differently."
This is such shocking news. Unbelievable.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
This article told me I code like a woman. I knew playing all those female characters in RPGs would come back to haunt me.
/cry
And the masses cried out, "09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0!"
And if I ever come across a woman programmer, I'll prove it.
If women were intended to write code, there would be more keyboards in the kitchen.
-Lars
-those strings of instructions that result in nifty applications and programs-
Why do you need to explain what code is? This is news for nerds, not news for my mother. Give us some credit please.
bias, anyone?
You're just begging to be rickrolled to a NSFW hermaphrodite pron site with curiosity like that.
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Now that I've lived to see this day,
These are the things I must but say.
Die a bachelor, if your options are few,
Never ever love a female programmer,
they'll make a program out of you.
Don't laugh it away, mine has been an object lesson,
They find syntax errors, even in a romantic expression.
Alas! They search logic in love, where there is none,
Your heart may skip a beat and they just hit return.
You are in for trouble if you persist,
You'll just be a pointer in her long linked list.
--
Free Playstation 3, XBox 360 and Nintendo Wii
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Any such broad classifications such as this should be taken with a *lot* of salt.
Pun intended? (I hope!)
Does this explain the state of affairs in concurrent programming?
We all know that even if a woman *appears* to document her code well that what is written isn't what she really means!
Or women don't document at all and just expect the men to know what they are thinking.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
If women code anything like they act in real life, then you'd get a lot of helpful comments like this:
/*If you don't why this function isn't returning your expected result, then hell if I'm going to tell you.
Who said women couldn't code?
Cogito, ergo sig.
Does this mean you need to spend half an hour telling the database how pretty it is and how much you love it no matter what it says before it will give you a straight answer?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
True, but it is the greatest flamebait article ever! It kind of brings a little tear of joy to my eye.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
Also: I hear that Asians write really efficient code because of their little fingers. And black guys? They could write great code, if only Whitey would stop keeping them down.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
"she's not doing her job properly"
See, that can't possibly be it. Didn't you watch all those 80s after-school specials? Have you not watched all those female empowerment action movies?
*Sigh*
All women, everywhere, regardless of age, height, weight or any other consideration are absolutely fantastic at everything they do. All women are at least above average intelligence, though most are in the genius category. Obviously, since she is a woman, she is doing her job brilliantly!
I mean look at all the uplifting, empowering stories that show how amazing women are. Can a 300 pound linebacker be flattened by a 95 pound girl? Of course! As long as she believes in herself!
But there is danger out there. What if a woman does something and someone says that it is not very good. That would hurt her self-esteem! Since we've already proven that women are indeed capable of doing everything far better than men, this attempt to hurt women's self-esteem must be stopped. There will be a meeting followed by a handout of the new rules about how all men must grovel a sufficient amount everyday to be allowed in the room with women's amazing wonderfulness.
So, obviously, Mr. "She's not doing her job" you are just a supporter of the white male patriarchy, since you hate women and want them all to be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.
Don't worry, though. We'll re-educate you. Oh yes we will...
But I can still write my name in the snow better than any woman.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
And then you have women like the brillant Paula.
09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
Badass Resumes
As a male who likes to leave lots of "roadmaps" and such in my code for future programmers, I feel that my masculinity has been challenged.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Female code is more sensitive to errors and user input. They react, but often in ways unexpected, and there is a lot more going on than the users are made aware of.
There are also more dialogs, but most of them are just confirmations, with no option to cancel. Sometimes users are forced to read instructions or show concern for the programs wellbeing before being able to proceed.
Female code is also shorter and lighter, more often mutli-threaded, and tends to be harder to debug.
Female software tends to lock-in users with very strict and specific End User License Agreements. You also lose half of your harddrive if you switch to another program, or are caught making out in another window.
And so on and so forth.
ORLY now. I'm still officially a man (much to my chagrin), and I've always used landmarks to give directions.
-uso.
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
Anyone who assigns attributes to half of the people in the world is on very thin ice.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Are you saying one of them was a tranny?
> Well one and a half of them, kind of...
She was that fat, ey?
No, he's saying he 'half-dated' one of them. That means he was dating her but she wasn't actually aware of it...
I work with a woman whose name is Ruby Perle. The sad part is that the inherent pun there didn't dawn on me until just this second. I must be slipping...
It is BS such as this that will ensure sexism remains in the workplace for a long time to come.
I don't care if you are a transsexual midget; if you write better code then I do, I want to work with you.
What the hell is "testosterone-fueled code" anyway? I mean, here is a excerpt from the code for an online store I recently developed for a client.
// GONNA SHAVE WITH A RAZOR BLADE YEAH
oStore.getValidator().validateInput(lstFormElements);
// GONNA PUNCH YOUR LIGHTS OUT IF YOU KEEP LOOKING AT ME YEAH
oStore.getCCProcessor().processPurchaseTrxn(listFormElements.get('CC'));
// TIRED OF CODING TIME FOR WORKING OUT THEN STRIP CLUB YEAH
oStore.getWorkflow().getNextPage();
Seems pretty standard and I could see a woman coding it the same way.
xkcd