Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: Cheaper, faster, better side effects -- sometimes a bad idea in programming is better than just good enough, writes InfoWorld's Peter Wayner: "Some ideas, schemes, or architectures may truly stink, but they may also be the best choice for your project. They may be cheaper or faster, or maybe it's too hard to do things the right way. In other words, sometimes bad is simply good enough. There are also occasions when a bad idea comes with a silver lining. It may not be the best approach, but it has such good side-effects that it's the way to go. If we're stuck going down a suboptimal path to programming hell, we might as well make the most of whatever gems may be buried there." What bad programming ideas have you found useful enough to make work in your projects? Don't be shy or ashamed, we all want to hear your responses!

Comments

pop

[Anonymous Coward]

using assembly language to code a web page because the boss wanted it to be fast

Re:pop

[Joce640k]

using assembly language to code a web page because the boss wanted it to be fast

The bad idea was using JavaScript/PHP/whatever in the first place.

Languages designed by clowns.

The moment they should have given up was when they realized they needed to add an extra '===' operator because they messed up the '==' operator so badly.

(and all the rest of the bad ideas they had around the same time they were implementing '==')

Magic Numbers!

[BarneyGuarder]

Magic numbers save tons of time. You get to working code quickly to verify your algorithm. They nev

>Segmentation Fault

Re:Goto

[fahrbot-bot]

Goto. I use that (in C) for error handling all the time, and frankly, it is about the cleanest way to do it I have seen.

One little goto. How bad can it be?

Re:MUMPS

[phantomfive]

Here is an example of some clear, easy to read, written-to-the-highest-standard MUMPS code for your inspection.