The Moths of Programming with Dino Dini

The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

This chapter covers the topic of strict typing. Is the almost religious adherence to the ideas of strict typing actually justified? What is the origin of this? And is it really as strict as we think it is?

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The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

This chapter covers the topic of integrated development environments. What is the real reason for them? Do they actually help? Are they just a distraction? Asked Clippy for comment, but it declined to respond. I suspect we now know where it retired to.

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The Moths of Programming With Dino Dini
Chapter 8 - Scripting Languages

The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

This chapter covers the topic of scripting languages. What is the real reason for them? Do they reduce reliance on software engineers? Do they actually help? And just now many times do we need to nest a virtual machine inside a virtual machine anyway?

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In this double length episode, Dino objectively explores Object Orientated Programming, which he views as one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mistakes of software engineering.

OOP considered harmful?

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Macros have a bad reputation and often derided. As a result, their value and importance in solving real world programming problems is often overlooked, especially by the creators of new languages. Yet it turns out that despite the desperate (and often over complicated) efforts to consign them to history, they still have their place in C and C++ programming, and can be sorely missed in languages such as C# or Java. 

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In any social media facilitated discussion about programming the topic of code optimisation with often arise. Anyone who has expertise in low level optimisation are likely to face a choice: being silent or enduring endless accusations of irrelevance and hubris. Most choose the former approach as a more efficient and effective path to take, even if they earn a living developing and maintaining optimising code generators. 

The idea that Compilers Optimise Code Better Than Humans is, I argue, another Moth of Programming:  an idea that has become popular in software engineering due to virality instead of reality.

 

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We often hear the phrase "Don't Reinvent The Wheel" all the time in software engineering, but what does this actually mean, and is it a useful mantra, or just another Moth of Programming?

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The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

Chapter 3 considers the classic moth "Always Comment Your Code". 

It is commonly believed, commonly by less experienced programmers, that we should always comment our code. However, it is far better to create code that does not need commenting.

( You can also follow Dino on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd359G69NIqKeS-rP5v04lw ) 

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• https://www.dinodini.com (WEB)
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The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

Chapter 2 considers the classic moth "Gotos are Evil". 

I believe this moth is a hangover from times gone by with the limitations of early programming languages, and is no longer relevant. Further an obsession with this moth has closed the minds of programmers everywhere to  better way of organizing code, perhaps causing untold damage.

The great idea sacrificed to this moth? Coroutines.

( You can also follow Dino on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd359G69NIqKeS-rP5v04lw ) 

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The moths of programming are ideas in the software engineering industry that have become pervasive due to virality rather than reality. Although they may have some truth to them, they are often inaccurate, misleading, distracting or even damaging. I call them moths because they flutter around in a programmer's mind, getting in the way of truly good practice.

This first chapter considers the classic moth "Global Variables Are Bad". I believe this moth is a hangover from times gone by with the limitations of early programming languages, and is no longer relevant. Further an obsession with this moth has closed the minds of programmers everywhere to  better way of organizing code, perhaps causing untold damage.

The smoking gun? Singletons.

( You can also follow Dino on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd359G69NIqKeS-rP5v04lw ) 

Support the show

• https://tinyurl.com/yc4pP968 (SIGNAL)
• https://www.dinodini.com (WEB)
• https://twitter.com/dndn1011 (DEACTIVATED, please use SIGNAL)
• https://www.youtube.com/dndn1011