202203221620 The golden rule of programming

My golden rule of programming is

Simplicity above all.

Simple is understandable first, maintainable second, changeable last.

Notice that there's nothing here about performance, elegance, abstraction, repetition or anything like that. The only way to write good code is for it to be simple, understandable, maintainable, and changeable.

To be maximally explicit, 202204031033 Abstractions and future-coding are actively harmful. I point this particular piece out because I find that many good developers fall into the fallacy of thinking these things are aiding their productivity and don’t see that they’re eroding the simplicity of their projects day-by-day.

A similar saying that I value and find is relevant when implementing this rule is 202203221630 Slow is steady, steady is smooth, smooth is fast. Remember that 202304031244 There is never time to fix things later, so we need to be patient and do things right from the outset.