Simple Code Makes Good Software

Back in the 80′s there were a breed of satiric texts titled like Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal circulating around Usenet and photocopiers (see Wikipedia or do a web search on this title). Since then, things like OOP, CORBA, COM, and AJAX have been among the major issues that Real Programmers do or don’t use. What remains, however, is that programmers are supposed to write code – right?

So if you are a programmer, you should write as much code as you can because that’s what you are paid for. The more code you write, the better a programmer you will be. The plenitude of your code lines ensures your place in the Programmers’ Hall of Fame!

Not quite so, or, rather, not at all so! In fact, what you are paid for is implementing functionality, not writing code, which is just the necessary evil to accomplish your primary mission. Believe me, even you could write bugs sometimes, and the more code there is, the more bugs there will be. And because nothing is invariable in this world, somebody has to maintain your code after you have finished with it. Whether it is yourself or somebody else, maintaining 10,000 lines of code cannot be easier than maintaining 1,000 lines of code however beautiful those 10,000 lines might ever be.

So how to become a better programmer and write less code? That’s what this blog is trying to figure out. In forthcoming posts I will share my recipes how to utilize the .NET Framework to implement more functionality with less code. And even if you are not a .NET programmer, you might find some posts in this A Craft and an Art category at least intriguing if not downright interesting.

Be my guest!