When an abstraction turns out to be wrong, the fastest way forward is to inline it back into every caller and let the duplication show what the right one is.

Added to korrents 20 Jan 2016 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Related korrents

Our reading — they may agree, disagree or merely touch the same thing. Closest first: a shared subject counts for most, then how near the wording is.

• Parameters and conditional branches accumulating inside shared code are the diagnostic that the abstraction is wrong. SMSandi Metz20 Jan 2016similar wording
• Duplication is cheaper than the wrong abstraction, so code should not be made reusable before there are real examples of what the reuse has to do. CMCasey Muratori28 May 2014similar wording
• An abstraction chosen wrongly at the start means a team can never make its software great, however good that team is. TLTobias Lütke18 Sept 2025similar wording
• A compiler that names every place a change breaks turns refactoring into fixing errors until the compiler stops shouting. ARAlice Ryhl20 May 2026similar wording
• The hard part of verification is not proving the code correct but working out what the specification should say. HWHillel Wayne21 Jan 2019similar wording

See this on the map →