[Asterisk-Dev] [Rant] [long] - code style and quality

[Danny Froberg]

Preston ffs! messy code prevents NEW devs to pick up the thread and do
it for FREE as well... Also shocks existing devs into staring blankly at
old code they wrote months ago... so either way, messy code although
initially faster is quite counter productive. So if someone wants to
inspire the existing devs into writing prettier code and they are ok
with it, let it be.

/Danny

On Mon, 2005-05-09 at 08:58 -0700, Preston Garrison wrote:
> Have we all forgotten all these asterisk developers are doing all this 
> coding for free?  If i want to make my code messy, then I will do so.  
> You should be thankful you even have asterisk to work with, and stop 
> complaining about messy code.  Most of the developers have actual day 
> jobs, and spending alot of time cleaning up and document their code 
> would either take away from them, or the amount of time they spend 
> adding new features to asterisk.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
> 
> Preston Garrison
> direct: 877-748-4142
> fax: 310-774-3901
> cell: 623-748-4140
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Giagnocavo <mgg-digium at atrevido.net>
> To: asterisk-dev at lists.digium.com
> Sent: Mon, 9 May 2005 09:51:56 -0600
> Subject: RE: [Asterisk-Dev] [Rant] [long] - code style and quality
> 
> >>Steve,
> >> the quote was not out of context. I supplied the entire paragraph it 
> came
> 
> >>from, and the individual sentence that I replied with it.
> >>You may disagree - that is your right.
> >>
> >>
> >Real code gets messy. It only ends up not being messy if you fight 
> hard
> >against the natural trend. You cut away the paragraph where I 
> considered
> >the trade offs, leaving a very different impression than my full 
> message.
> 
> So, can we trim that down to "real code requires work"?
> 
> I don't why you think you're making a point about having to "fight 
> hard".
> Yea, being a good developer is hard. In programming, good devs from bad 
> devs
> are separated by an order of magnitude at least. I don't think this is 
> news
> to anyone. So if everyone knows that "real code is messy unless we do
> something about it", why do you jump on someone who encourages doing
> something?
> 
> >>I count the asterisk project as real code - which is messy.
> >>
> >Do you have the slightest idea how it came to be? In 1999 there were a
> >number of free telephony projects getting off the ground. Most were 
> pure
> <snip>
> >Asterisk software. Most of the other PSTN oriented projects grew out 
> of
> >religious cults. The "pure Java is the way, the truth and the light"
> >cult. The "design is everything" cult. The "polish is paramount" cult.
> >There was a project to do soft modems for FAX that for a couple of 
> years
> >was supposed to be "developing ways to interconnect DSP modules", but
> >projects survived - for example, there is an ISDN PABX still around.
> >Only Asterisk thrived.
> >
> >So, all the nice tidy projects proved worthless, and the one you
> >criticise is usefully serving the needs of thousands of people. 
> Everyone
> >knows its messy. Anyone who points out that obvious fact in a two page
> >tome is being a PITA. However, where do your priorities lie? Style or
> >content?
> 
> And the point was? Luigi was completely right to point out problems in
> coding style. I didn't hear him say "Asterisk sucks" or "its not 
> useful".
> Pointing out that having, say, a 700-line switch statement is a bad 
> idea is
> constructive criticism. Perhaps some people should learn the different
> between negative and positive. The OP was quite in the latter.
> 
> -Michael