I’ve reached the point I tend to write code a certain way (depending on the language) because, as Joel puts it: 4. You deliberately architect your code in such a way that your nose for uncleanliness makes your code more likely to be correct. This is the real art: making robust code by literally inventing [...]
Joel talking about the Development Abstraction Layer had a particularly interesting sinppet: A programmer is most productive with a quiet private office, a great computer, unlimited beverages, an ambient temperature between 68 and 72 degrees (F), no glare on the screen, a chair that’s so comfortable you don’t feel it, an administrator that brings them [...]
Another good one from Joel: Just because there’s room on the dialog box, doesn’t mean you have to put something there. The Java installer starts off with a dialog box that manages to repeat the word Java six times without really telling you what it is, just that it’s “everywhere.” People don’t like to read. [...]
“In an information economy, the most valuable company assets drive themselves home every night. If they are not treated well, they do not return the next morning.” –Peter Chang
“Some people, when confronted with a problem, think ‘I know, I’ll use regular expressions.’ Now they have two problems.” – Jamie Zawinski
Fascinating explanation why Snapper lawn mowers are not sold at Wal-Mart.
Joel on Things You Should Never Do: It’s a bit smarmy of me to criticize them for waiting so long between releases. They didn’t do it on purpose, now, did they? Well, yes. They did. They did it by making the single worst strategic mistake that any software company can make: They decided to rewrite [...]
