Do (not) Repeat Yourself

tags

Don't Repeat Yourself

Notes

Programmers walk a fine line between seeking ecstatic singularities while at the same time enduring dutiful and crushing conformity to correctness and con- vention,

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‘joy’ is contrasted with repetition, something much less desirable and seen as valueless,

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it is often the programmers’ recognition of a pattern already learned through repetition that is most compelling

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In contrast to the practice of belonging, the fun to be had in the pioneering discovery of the novel or unique is isolating.

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repetition is intrinsically intertwined with the development of the craft of programming.

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the better your technique, the longer you can rehearse without becoming bored.

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Far from celebrating the birth of a unique new creation from scratch, it is rather a joyful expression of the pattern that increasingly be- comes physically embodied in the programmer him/herself. Here, the material that one once struggled with, with time becomes something ingrained in ‘one’s fingers’.

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abstraction promises the programmer that if he/she can only get the abstraction right, he/she will never have to deal with a particular kind of problem again.

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Rather than removing the problem, repetition produces increased capacity to deal with the problem

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The fact that experienced programmers might directly write code using concise and ‘correct’ abstractions is more a reflection of their experience than an absolute (and transferable) measure of quality.

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I had to accept that I was only the vehicle for the system expressing its own desire for simplicity.

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the struggles of programming often get pro- jected from programmers onto the code.

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I can no longer come up with meaningful names for things. Have started using names like aa, bb, and aaa. Switching between these abstract symbols seems easier;

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Can no longer remember what task I am currently working on. I start writing down tasks not ‘to do’, but what I’m supposedly ‘doing now’, so that each time I slip, I can refer to the note.

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According to the principles of DRY, it would seem that the job of a program- mer is to detect patterns and to fold these into redundancy-free perfection.

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Programming is more akin to an illness, a fever, an obsession. It is like riding a train and never being able to get off.

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compares software design to using methamphetamine, as the ‘speed high is the only state that approximates the feel of a project at its inception. Yes, I understand. Yes, it can be done. Yes, how straightforward. Oh yes, I see’.

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‘once you find the easy way you don’t have to think about it, . . . it will almost do itself’,

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The easier you do it the less you have to do. He who has learned to do nothing with his whole mind and body will have everything done for him.

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In a system where code is a product to be protected and exploited commercially, the efficiency of the process tends to eliminate the usefulness of the programmer; truly efficient coding would lead to a point where the coder him/herself becomes ‘redundant’, expendable.

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The value of free software is the community of developers, documenters, researchers, designers and users which is rather than the ‘shrink-wrapped product’ or ‘killer app’ per se.

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The free software community is a rich tapestry of duplication, forked projects and reinventions of the proverbial wheel.

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maxims, such as ‘Don’t repeat yourself’ only work when they are not taken literally,

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