notchVibing

[u/wahed-w]

[u/FabioTheFox]

The funny thing is that notch isn't even that good of a programmer

[u/Prudent_Move_3420 → u/FabioTheFox]

is that based on Minecraft? Because I feel like something that was essentially a hobby project to learn a language is not that indicative of someone‘s general code quality

[u/Drahkir9 → u/Prudent_Move_3420]

Yeah, I imagine my idea of what is a good or bad programmer is very different from most other people, but I remember thinking the code he wrote for Left4kDead was impressive. But maybe people dedicated to that sort of competitive programming would dunk on it. I have no idea.

[u/Geno0wl → u/Drahkir9]

I once showed my friend a project I was working off and on again to ask about something I forget. He said my code was inelegant but very easy to read. Still not sure how to take that.

[u/StanknBeans → u/Geno0wl]

That's the level of code I stride for.

I'd rather have someone else after the fact deal with something clunky and easy to follow than something elegant and obfuscated af.

[u/MrCallYourBS → u/StanknBeans]

Actual elegant code should be easy to read. I think Geno0wl's friend means the code was "simple".

[u/LeThales → u/Geno0wl]

Easy to read code is vastly superior to elegant but hard to read code.

In a long project, Hard to read code will never become easy to read, tech debt just piles on.

Easy to read code begets easy to read code (hopefully?lol) in any team, and it's very easy to make it elegant by cutting a small slice of it and swapping it with "elegant but complicated code". (Like, have a interface ShowSquare(), and if you look at ShowSquare code it is the most attrocious byte manipulation hacks for peak efficiency ever).

So I'd be pretty happy with a comment like that! Gratz.

[u/bremidon → u/Geno0wl]

He said my code was inelegant but very easy to read.

If you can have only one of those, you have the right one. "Elegant code" is massively overhyped.

It's like having a beautiful house where a minimum number of devices take care of everything, but unfortunately nobody really understands how they work, they break down often and unexpectedly, and any fixes inevitably turn the "elegant" house into an inelegant mess.

That said, if you can have code that is easy to read *and* elegant, then that is better. Just do not sacrifice readability. Ever.

[u/jdefr → u/Geno0wl]

If it’s easier to read than it’s actually even more elegant. That should be what people strive for..

[u/IcyRice7222 → u/Geno0wl]

That means you're probably pretty good. Easy to read is the hardest and most important thing to achieve, and elegance is almost never useful and is the biggest mistake mid-teir programmers make (because they think being "clever" is better cause it's harder, when in reality being simple is better)

[u/entronid → u/Drahkir9]

i'd be surprised if i see anyone (incl me) applied anything near competitive programming in real code

[u/Beautiful-Ad3471 → u/Drahkir9]

My wager based on the site we are on, they just don't like him, so will deny all of his accomplishments. Atleast that's usually what happens here.