

Ask HN : What are the most annoying issues you run into when writing code? - donna

I'm looking to identify problems that our startup KrashKart can solve.. any ideas..<p>here are some we've come up with...<p>- errors in tools<p>- libraries (&#38; web browsers) that don't comply with standards<p>- have to deal with complexity in order to do a simple task<p>- significant portion of code may be parameter marshalling<p>- large number of files required for typical project<p>- text is subject to typos &#38; encoding problems<p>- can't find example/testbed code for a library/standard<p>- poor/nonexistent documentation
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nostrademons
Most of these aren't really things that a startup can solve, since to be
useful, you need to integrate with all the other crap out there, and once you
do that, you find you're just as crappy as they are. But I'll chip in with my
biggest pain point:

It's discontinuities in the development process. Y'know, those little features
that seem like they should be easy to implement, but aren't.

The particular discontinuities differ between languages, but here are a few
that really bug me:

Java, C, C++, and JavaScript: Converting a plain old field to a method that
computes the property. This is why Java books tell you to always use
accessors.

Any OO language: Adding a new method to an interface implemented by lots of
classes

Java/C++: Adapting a 3rd-party class to an interface that it doesn't natively
support.

Haskell: Converting a pure function to a monadic one

Haskell, Ocaml, & Erlang: Adding a new field to an ADT or tuple.

Any language without a refactoring browser: renaming a method, field, or
variable.

All languages: converting prototype code written with ad-hoc data structures
(tuples, lists, dicts) to production code with formal data structures
(classes, ADTs)

All languages: changing the order of function arguments

All languages: internationalizing strings

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jws
Not what you are looking for, but inaccesible documentation is my biggest
irritant. I'm talking to you broadcom and a lot of USB peripheral chip vendors
as well. And now the PowerVR keepers.

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ScottWhigham
All languages: O/R mapping

~~~
eru
O/R?

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furiouslol
Debugging a class with several levels of inheritance

