

Programming analogy as sudoku - BIackSwan
http://pastebin.com/4BAhcjqU

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ohyes
As a beardo, I have to say, this makes programming far more complicated than
it needs to be.

It is like solving a sudoku, except you get to write the sudoku.

So it is possible to make the sudoku really easy, if you think about what a
really easy sudoku consists of and code according to principles of easy
sudokus.

It is also possible to make it really difficult if you use java, fortran, or
c++.

~~~
ohyes
And halfway through, some guy says 'oh hey, I didn't want a sudoku, I wanted a
crossword.' And you can't do anything about it.

So you shoehorn your beautifully sculpted sudoku (which was perfect and simple
to understand!) and try to force it to look like a crossword, and it kind of
is, but it is extremely complicated, you can't even understand it, but the
deadline is tomorrow. So you ship it anyway.

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wccrawford
I was outright laughing by the time I got to "The squares, can't you see, the
squares, they're so beautiful".

Because it's so true. It's SO easy to get wrapped up in chaos like that if you
aren't truly working as a team. If everyone is off doing their own thing with
no code review, it happens just like that.

However, if you add code reviews (or pair programmer, if you are so minded)
and good teamwork, it's more like crafting fine art than creating a labyrinth
from the inside.

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Roritharr
I read the sudoku analogy some time ago on stack overflow, only it was much
shorter and concerning the question of time.

How do you explain somebody why it is hard to know when you will have
accomplished a certain programming task?

Just ask how long he will need for a sudoku, with a second in precision.

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eLobato
I'd say that teamwork and cooperation within programmers is like a sudoku,
programming is more like writing not the sudoku but whatever comes out of that
fucked up mind of any of you HN readers!

~~~
threepointone
I'd rather be me than you.

Sincerely, threepoint-"a rather fucked up mind"-one.

~~~
eLobato
Do you mean to be offensive with that post? I wrote "fucked up" as in "crazy,
spontaneous, creative as hell", not as in any offensive way, homie.

~~~
threepointone
Fair enough, but you sure sounded offensive. I apologize for the snarky
comment as well. It sucks when tone doesn't get conveyed properly over plain
text.

We good? Yeah, we good :)

