
Good Code Tells the Truth - duck
http://www.pragprog.com/magazines/2010-10/good-code-tells-the-truth
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zipdog
I think the writer misuses the word 'Truth'. He really means something like
Grice's maxims for language and communication.

A couple of programmers I know have been reading philosophy (in particular
epistemology) and applying principles from it to their coding - I was hoping
the article would talk about how code really can be improved by making it
Truthful in a stricter sense.

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shawndumas
your blog url please. (you are blogging this code-epistemology odyssey,
right?)

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zipdog
oh, no I wasn't :(

but if you give me a couple of weeks, I'll see if I can find time to start

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wccrawford
Lost me when he said that saying something more than once is lying.

DRY is a great principle, but not following it is not the same as lying.

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duck
_For another example of truth in coding, consider namespace pollution. An
unnecessary global variable is not just an invitation to bugs; if it’s
overexposed, it’s lying. Its scope should be reduced to match its importance._

I think he is saying that you can't trust a global variable as it could be not
what you think it is (and thus lying) because of it's scope.

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j_baker
I agree with this. Good code isn't always pretty. It's code that allows you to
get the best idea of what it's doing.

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rpbertp13
It is fascinating how Plato's conflation of the True, Good and Beautiful still
resonates 2500 years later and in fields that are not consciously
philosophical.

