The Duct Tape Programmer

theodp writes "Joel Spolsky sings the praises of The Duct Tape Programmer, who delivers programming teams from the evil of 'architecture astronauts' who might otherwise derail a project with their faddish programming craziness. The say-no-to-over-engineering attitude of the Duct Tape Programmer stems not from orneriness, but from the realization that even a 50%-good solution that people actually have solves more problems and survives longer than a 99% solution that nobody has because it's in your lab where you're endlessly polishing the damn thing. Like Steve Jobs, Duct Tape Programmers firmly believe that Real Artists Ship."

Comments

Re:So, does the Duct Tape Programmer...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

But I can't stand these Duct Tape Programmers who are the ones casting to void * because they can't be bothered with templates.

I didn't notice anyone mentioning casting anything to void*. Perhaps your imagination is too constrained by spending too much time in C++? Perhaps he meant that it is better to avoid using C++ with its strange quirks altogether and to use languages with saner type systems?

Joel Spolsky: From Coder to Manager

[hunnybunny]

it looks like joel spolsky has finally completed the metamorphosis from developer to point haired boss.

for "duct tape programmer" read "programmer who will agree to do any old shit without complaint".
if he wants to rationalise his crap management style let him.

when the software finally implodes as a result of this nonsense, the manager can order a re-write and call it "agile re-factoring" or some such opaque bullshit.

here's a new trendy software methodology for you:

"if you don't actually write code - shut the f**k up"