"I was really excited to write this article, because it gave me an excuse to really think about what beautiful code is. I still don't think I know, and maybe it's entirely subjective. I do think the two biggest things, for me at least, are stylistic indenting and maximum const-ness. A lot of the stylistic choices are definitely my personal preferences, and I'm sure other programmers will have different opinions. I think the choice of what style to use is up to whoever has to read and write the code, but I certainly think it's something worth thinking about. I would suggest everyone look at the Doom 3 source code because I think it exemplifies beautiful code, as a complete package: from system design down to how to tab space the characters." John Carmack himself replies in the comments.
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Member since:2006-05-30
I've been working with a contractor (politically, I had nothing to do with him being hired for the project - I would have vetted him better, but he's actually being subcontracted to a third party who seem happy not to care.) He doesn't believe in inheritance. It drives me absolutely insane. He will do exactly as you say. He's very pattern orientated, but prefers using interfaces and single level hierarchies. I came from a Delphi background and I'm used to using interfaces to create a contract that is implemented in a class, but also creating hierarchies that build up reusable blocks of code. The flat namespace approach really doesn't make sense to me at all. Example: I have a requirement to implement a set of classes to process allocation of a table based set of prices, which differ by application. I personally would create a base class with the commonality in it, then build classes on top of that to implement the specifics. I would more than likely create an interface with the specific details for accessing any of the children generically, I'd utilise abstract and virtual methods/properties to ensure the interface could be applied at a level where it made sense. He on the other hand would create one interface and implement a new class for each different use. His argument is that inheritance causes complexity that can be avoided, but I've worked on some stupidly complex class hierarchies that were poorly designed and still simpler and easier to maintain that a class per implementation of the functionality with lots of boiler plate code included.
Edited 2013-01-18 14:04 UTC
Member since:2011-01-28
henderson101,
It might be a matter of preference. I often find that I don't like the way inheritance is used and strongly prefer interfaces myself. This is one reason I like .net over C++. The "IS A" relationship and "HAS A" relationships often tread very thin lines and with the exception of polymorphism the differences become syntactic rather than expressive.
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2009-08-18
I agree that VB syntax isn't the best.
I have mostly written C#, Java, PHP and JavaScript. I have never coded in classic VB, So I tend to write VB like C#.
We have a lot of points in our code base (that is mostly inherited), where Try ... Catch is mis-used, and that is one of the better things I have to deal with.
* Functions doing more than one thing and multiple return values of the same type (usually string) which mean different things depending on how it is used.
* Very misleading variable names.
* Try ... Catch misused.
* Lack of understanding for some key OOP principles, a classic being two different types having say the first 5 properties and methods being exactly the same and having 2 or 3 properties that are different ... it is screaming to use inheritance, but it was just muddled together.
I could go on, but my main point was that any one of these problems aren't down to the language but down to lack of understanding of principles. I don't think any language magically fixes those.