Other People's Code

The examples of computer code you find on the Internet are a mixed bag. Some are well done, even inspired. Most are imbued with whatever quirks were harbored by their creator. Much is so fabulously bad that it's had to imagine it runs. But, like anything, even bad examples have something to teach.

I used to think the vast amount of open source available for casual perusal was probably a reasonable sampling of how people code. I now think I'm being optimistic. Every time I turn over a virtual rock and catch a glimpse of the inner workings of stuff my company has already paid for, it's invariably abysmal.

I now think that the really, really bad code is the stuff people are ashamed of showing and so call proprietary. I'd like to think I'm wrong and the inner workings of things I can't see might hold trade secret ensconced brilliance, but I'm just pretty sure that's not the case.

I could offer a few real world examples, but I'm currently trying to fix those and enumerating them would only lead to my despair. The stupid hurts. So, to be mollified by the pain of others, I go here instead. It's almost soothing.