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Ask Slashdot: What Makes Some Code Particularly Good?

Posted by Soulskill on from the lots-of-goto-statements dept.

itwbennett writes: When developers talk about what makes some source code particularly 'good,' a handful of qualities tend to get mentioned frequently (functional, readable, testable). What would you add to this list?

3 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. When you go back to it several months later by Z80a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And say "thank you, my past self for making this so easy to understand and versatile!".

  2. Re:Compactness and Readability by Yunzil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It communicates clearly what it is trying to do.

    It doesn't, actually. Looking at that as someone who doesn't know what a CRC32 is I have no idea why it's doing what it's doing. Some actual useful comments might be nice.

  3. Re:Obviously by stjobe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I am all over the place, I guess many programmers are.

    Being a programmer is a trade in some parts, and you can get by with good craftsmanship.
    In other parts it's a creative art, and you can't force creativity.

    To write really good code, you need to both have the craftsmanship and the creativity.

    --
    "Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley