Subj : Re: Is well written code a rare species ? To : comp.programming From : Alan Balmer Date : Fri Aug 12 2005 02:39 pm On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:40:18 GMT, "Bob Day" wrote: > >"Anonymous George" wrote in message news:pan.2005.08.12.17.56.50.318008@somewhere.nu... >> Good day everyone, >> >> This is my second job now. By now, in my 10 year career, >> I have had to maintain some programs that were written >> by others. Most of those programs were badly written. >> Global variables all over the place, way too long functions >> with hardly any useful comments, badly chosen function names, >> you name it. >> >> Is bad programming common practice ? >> Is well written code a rare species ? >> >> I ask this, because I want to know if I should change >> myself or if I should just go to another employer. >> My current job is driving me crazy, because it takes so much >> effort to do even the simplest modification to the application. >> >> And how can I learn during a job interview whether the company's >> product has high quality source code ? I know every company will >> say that about themselves. > >Get a job developing code rather that maintaining it. Make it >clear up front, during your interviews, that you are a developer >not a maintainer, and, in fact, that you suck at maintaining code. >That's what I did before I worked on my own, and I'm sure it >took me a lot longer to get jobs that way. I'm sure it did. I'm also sure that I wouldn't want products from a company who would hire someone with that philosophy. When I worked as a development manager, every developer was required to spend time doing maintenance. It helped prevent stuff like the OP is describing. > On the other hand, >I was always successful in getting work I enjoyed. > >--Bob Day >http://bobday.vze.com -- Al Balmer Balmer Consulting removebalmerconsultingthis@att.net .