It seems that my "Pair Programming with Google Wave" prophecy has come true.
It was such an obvious idea that it was only a matter of time - even if it wasn't how I imagined the technology to be used.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
KISS Vs DRY
In my last post I talked about the expert programmer knowing when not to implement a feature or widget, so as to keep the product and codebase as maintainable as possible.
This idealogy stems from two of the core principles of good software development practice: KISS - Keep it simple, stupid. And DRY - Don't Repeat Yourself.
But it turns out that these two fundamental practices are occasionally locked in a violent and bloody conflict.
DRY often requires you to enhance the complexity of the software, violating KISS.
Consider the case where you could either implement a new module - and with it a new interface - or attempt to re-use an existing module with a fixed interface.
The first option would be the easiest to code as you have free reign over the interface definition, sticking to KISS. But it would violate DRY.
The second option may require quite a bit of work in coding up a wrapper and violating KISS. But it would conform to DRY.
In this example, which method you choose depends on a number of factors and although the second option is normally the correct one, it won't always be.
This idealogy stems from two of the core principles of good software development practice: KISS - Keep it simple, stupid. And DRY - Don't Repeat Yourself.
But it turns out that these two fundamental practices are occasionally locked in a violent and bloody conflict.
DRY often requires you to enhance the complexity of the software, violating KISS.
Consider the case where you could either implement a new module - and with it a new interface - or attempt to re-use an existing module with a fixed interface.
The first option would be the easiest to code as you have free reign over the interface definition, sticking to KISS. But it would violate DRY.
The second option may require quite a bit of work in coding up a wrapper and violating KISS. But it would conform to DRY.
In this example, which method you choose depends on a number of factors and although the second option is normally the correct one, it won't always be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
