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Programming Mistakes To Avoid

Posted by Soulskill on from the livin'-on-the-edge-cases dept.

snydeq writes "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner outlines some of the most common programming mistakes and how to avoid them. 'Certain programming practices send the majority of developers reaching for their hair upon opening a file that has been exhibiting too much "character." Spend some time in a bar near any tech company, and you'll hear the howls: Why did the programmer use that antiquated structure? Where was the mechanism for defending against attacks from the Web? Wasn't any thought given to what a noob would do with the program?' Wayner writes. From playing it fast and loose, to delegating too much to frameworks, to relying too heavily on magic boxes, to overdetermining the user experience — each programming pitfall is accompanied by its opposing pair, lending further proof that 'programming may in fact be transforming into an art, one that requires a skilled hand and a creative mind to achieve a happy medium between problematic extremes.'" What common mistakes do you frequently have to deal with?

7 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. Programming Mistakes To Avoid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...just try to avoid errors and you should be set.

    1. Re:Programming Mistakes To Avoid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...just try to avoid errors and you should be set.

      But Warnings are ok. Just no errors. Warnings still compile.

  2. Programming Mistakes To Avoid by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) VB
    2) Perl
    3) Silver bullets
    3) Writing your own "framework".
    4) Using somebody else's "framework".

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  3. GOTO... by Ecuador · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is it indecent of me to reminisce on the days of olde when such a topic would simply turn into a lengthy discussion mocking BASIC programmers?

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
  4. Re:Mistakes? by Chrisq · · Score: 5, Funny

    I very rarely see programming mistakes.

    Neither do the bad programmers!

  5. Re:"Common" mistakes by tudorl · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now that's what I call encapsulation :)

  6. Two Major Mistakes by grcumb · · Score: 5, Funny

    My two most common mistakes:

    1. Variable scoping
    2. Memory leaks
    3. Off-by-one errors
    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.