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Ask Slashdot: What Are the Hardest Things Programmers Have To Do?

Posted by Soulskill on from the moderate-their-criticism dept.

itwbennett writes "Software development isn't a cakewalk of a job, but to hear programmers tell it (or at least those willing to grouse about their jobs on Quora and Ubuntu Forums), what makes programming hard has little to do with writing code. In fact, if the list compiled by ITworld's Phil Johnson has it right, the single hardest thing developers do is name things. Are you a software developer? What's the hardest part of your job?"

3 of 473 comments (clear)

  1. following a changing spec list by bugnuts · · Score: 4, Informative

    The most annoying and maddening thing I've ever had to do was follow a changing spec list from a manager who thought it was some iterative process, instead of giving me an actual complete task description to work on.

    Even though it was his nickel, it sucked the enjoyment out of that job.

  2. Re:Estimation by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why not quadruple and add four instead? Oh, right, you learned this from an assembly programmer.

    assembly programmers always shift, they don't multiply by powers of 2.

    shl ax, 2
    add ax, 4

    if memory serves...

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  3. Re:Estimation by bre_dnd · · Score: 3, Informative
    inc ax

    shl ax,2

    would be slightly faster and use less memory :)