Re: Quest: Compiling aphorisms

[grinder]

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

This is a nod to the concept that TIMTOWTDI is not always a good idea. Sometimes, a person asks a question on Perlmonks, and some people post the most ridiculous answers "because no-one else has yet done it this way". Sometimes, there are sound reasons why that is the case. (update: oops, I just realised I wasn't supposed to explain this. Oh well, I still think the meaning is obvious).

In other words:

Strive for clarity

[demerphq]

Actually i think those TIMTOWTDI posts are great. They remind me of the way children will play with words and vocabulary to the say things that adults understand but dont quite follow the rules. I think they represent part of the learning process of exploring the boundaries and interactions of the language and as such are part of the pathway to better programming. Realizing that there twenty ways to do something, of which 17 are fairly silly 2 are ok but cryptic and 1 is succinct, expressive and to the point requires knowing what all those ways are.

I agree with you on clarity, but i think i would add elegance and succint. Ive seem code that is perfectly clear but totally annoying because of its oververboseness and poor structure.