There was trouble.
I couldn't finish it. Every time I got started I stalled. Nothing seemed right. My boss, with whom I carpooled, was patient. Finally one evening as we were leaving work, I told him: "I figured out how to write 4GL." His reply was an immediate and heartfelt, "Thank God!"
What was the secret to writing code using a butt-ugly language? Turning off my aesthetic sense.
Usually I edit as I write: As I work, I continually look back and check over what I write for basic standards of beauty and balance; if I see ugly, I know I've missed something that I could have done better. But on that hot Florida day I figured out that some jobs are just too crufty, involve tools or interfaces that are just too ugly, or have specs so silly, that there's no apparent way to make a solution to be proud of. At times like that, the approach I endorse is:
- Roll up your sleeves;
- Close your eyes;
- Hack until it works; then:
- Walk away and never, ever look back.
So remember, when elegance is momentarily beyond your reach: There's more than one way to define "success".
-- Chip Salzenberg, Free-Floating Agent of Chaos
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Re: Turning Off The Aesthetic Sense
by VSarkiss (Monsignor) on Apr 25, 2003 at 14:54 UTC | |
Re: Turning Off The Aesthetic Sense
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 25, 2003 at 16:50 UTC | |
Re: Turning Off The Aesthetic Sense
by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Apr 25, 2003 at 14:55 UTC | |
Re: Turning Off The Aesthetic Sense
by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Apr 26, 2003 at 01:21 UTC | |
by chip (Curate) on Apr 27, 2003 at 00:33 UTC | |
by FoxtrotUniform (Prior) on Sep 01, 2004 at 22:53 UTC | |
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Sep 02, 2004 at 01:51 UTC |