Professional Programming: The First 10 Years

Thorsten Ball · 17 May 2022

A change of mind in this piece

Using a library is better than writing the code yourself: reuse code as much as you can and don't reinvent the wheel.

Recalls holdingSometimes it’s better to write it yourself than to use other people’s code.

4 korrents from this piece · 1 of them a turn ↓

Thorsten Ball did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Perfection is unachievable because every goal involves trade-offs
Mental modelTrade-offs

Their wordsEverything is the result of trade-offs. You will never reach 100% on every axis that you care about. Something has to give.
Our reading
Using a dependency carries ongoing maintenance costs, not just upfront convenience
Mental modelsSecond-order thinking, Everything decays without maintenance

Their wordsDependencies aren't free. You have to keep them up to date. They increase your compile or loading times.
Our reading
Unnecessary code is a burden that makes a codebase harder to change
Mental modelLess, but better

Their wordsCode has mass. Every additional line of code you don't need is ballast. It weighs your codebase down, making it harder to steer and change direction if you need to.
Our reading
Using a library is better than writing the code yourself: reuse code as much as you can and don't reinvent the wheel.

Recalls holdingSometimes it’s better to write it yourself than to use other people’s code.

Their words nowDependencies aren’t free. You have to keep them up to date.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.