Ask Slashdot: How Can I Explain To a Coworker That He Writes Bad Code?

An anonymous reader writes "I have a coworker who, despite being very smart, and even very knowledgeable about software, writes the most horrible code imaginable. Entire programs are stuffed into single functions, artificially stretched thanks to relentless repetition; variable and class names so uninformative as to make grown men weep; basic language features ignored, when they could make everything shorter and more readable; and OOP abuse so sick and twisted that it may be considered a war crime. Of course, being a very smart person who has been programming since before I was born makes him fairly impervious to criticism, so even a simple 'Do you see how much better this function is when written this way?' is hopeless. How can I make him see the light, realize the truth, and be able to tell good code from bad?"

Comments

code reviews

[k0ldsh4d0wz]

conduct code reviews here is a good tool http://www.atlassian.com/software/crucible/overview , although it is not necessary to use a tool.

Buy him a present

[rabenja]

...the book Code Complete

Re:You don't

[Beetjebrak]

I used to be 29 when working with a colleague who was 64 at the time. He learned programming in ALGOL on Burroughs mainframes. Very tight, very sparse, very unreadable when he did Perl. Perl in fact lets you do this, as does C, but it's not needed anymore. It was downright impossible to get him to rename functions and variables to something descriptive or to use comments. That stuff used to cost back when the bits of RAM were visible with the naked eye. Today the balance tips another way. Doesn't mean the old dogs see any merit in that though and they will wield their seniority when pushed too hard. Personally I can really enjoy tweaking 6502 or 68K assembly by hand, but that's a hobby. At work I deal with business applications that, when slow, usually are just fed more iron because it's cheaper. The inner geek cringes at the thought, but it's the reality of business.