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@wilmoore
Forked from anonymous/gist:3753571
Created September 28, 2012 05:40

Revisions

  1. @invalid-email-address Anonymous revised this gist Sep 20, 2012. 1 changed file with 3 additions and 3 deletions.
    6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions gistfile1.txt
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's short, energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent,
    and completely misses the point.
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's quite good, short, energetic, enthusiastic,
    intelligent, and completely misses the point.

    While it's true that the code she produces is much better than the original, and is quite easy to understand; it fails one
    critical test. It's not polite.

    Polite code is like a well written newspaper article. It allows you to bail out early. An well written article has a
    Polite code is like a well written newspaper article. It allows you to bail out early. A well written article has a
    headline, a synopsis, and a set of paragraphs that begin with the high level concepts and get more and more detailed as you
    read through the article. At any point you can decide: "I get it! I don't need to read further." Indeed, this is how most
    people read newspapers or magazines. The articles are polite, because they allow you to get out quickly.
  2. @invalid-email-address Anonymous revised this gist Sep 20, 2012. 1 changed file with 12 additions and 4 deletions.
    16 changes: 12 additions & 4 deletions gistfile1.txt
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's short, energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent,
    and completely misses the point.

    While it's true that the code she produces is much better than the original, and is quite easy to understand; it fails one critical test. It's not polite.
    While it's true that the code she produces is much better than the original, and is quite easy to understand; it fails one
    critical test. It's not polite.

    Polite code is like a well written newspaper article. It allows you to bail out early. An well written article has a headline, a synopsis, and a set of paragraphs that begin with the high level concepts and get more and more detailed as you read through the article. At any point you can decide: "I get it! I don't need to read further." Indeed, this is how most people read newspapers or magazines. The articles are polite, because they allow you to get out quickly.
    Polite code is like a well written newspaper article. It allows you to bail out early. An well written article has a
    headline, a synopsis, and a set of paragraphs that begin with the high level concepts and get more and more detailed as you
    read through the article. At any point you can decide: "I get it! I don't need to read further." Indeed, this is how most
    people read newspapers or magazines. The articles are polite, because they allow you to get out quickly.

    Christin's code, simple as it is, does not let you get out early. You have to read through it to understand it. Granted, there's not a lot to read, and it's pretty easy going. But still, there's no early exit. To understand it, you must read it all.
    Christin's code, simple as it is, does not let you get out early. You have to read through it to understand it. Granted,
    there's not a lot to read, and it's pretty easy going. But still, there's no early exit. To understand it, you must read
    it all.

    Well written code should be crafted so that it is polite. It should approach detail gradually, the way a newspaper article does. It should allow the reader to bail out early, as soon as they realize that they don't need to understand the whole thing.
    Well written code should be crafted so that it is polite. It should approach detail gradually, the way a newspaper article
    does. It should allow the reader to bail out early, as soon as they realize that they don't need to understand the whole
    thing.
  3. @invalid-email-address Anonymous revised this gist Sep 20, 2012. 1 changed file with 2 additions and 1 deletion.
    3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion gistfile1.txt
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's short, energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent, and completely misses the point.
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's short, energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent,
    and completely misses the point.

    While it's true that the code she produces is much better than the original, and is quite easy to understand; it fails one critical test. It's not polite.

  4. @invalid-email-address Anonymous created this gist Sep 20, 2012.
    9 changes: 9 additions & 0 deletions gistfile1.txt
    Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
    @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
    @ChristinGorman gave this talk at JavaZone: https://vimeo.com/49484333 It's short, energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent, and completely misses the point.

    While it's true that the code she produces is much better than the original, and is quite easy to understand; it fails one critical test. It's not polite.

    Polite code is like a well written newspaper article. It allows you to bail out early. An well written article has a headline, a synopsis, and a set of paragraphs that begin with the high level concepts and get more and more detailed as you read through the article. At any point you can decide: "I get it! I don't need to read further." Indeed, this is how most people read newspapers or magazines. The articles are polite, because they allow you to get out quickly.

    Christin's code, simple as it is, does not let you get out early. You have to read through it to understand it. Granted, there's not a lot to read, and it's pretty easy going. But still, there's no early exit. To understand it, you must read it all.

    Well written code should be crafted so that it is polite. It should approach detail gradually, the way a newspaper article does. It should allow the reader to bail out early, as soon as they realize that they don't need to understand the whole thing.