Other People's Code

[baavgai]

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.

Comments

[maccuswell.livejournal.com]

Eh. I don't necessarily think open-source stuff is any better by virtue of being open source (although I know that's not the point you were making). I like Perl because of the vast quantities of high-quality, reviewed code on CPAN, not because of utter crap like Matt's Script Archive.

Or, for instance, take a gander at some of SQL-Ledger's vulnerabilities. These are not trivial issues, but they've been around for years. I saw massive flaws in its code when I was a fledgling programmer and refused to allow my company to use it for accounting.

Why is this a big deal? SQL-Ledger used to be really played up in the "is Linux ready for the desktop/corporation/space shuttle" debates, as it was supposedly the answer for a lack of accounting software. It got lots of fanboy attention on Slashdot, usually sandwiched in between articles full of foaming-at-the-mouth geeks insisting that Bill Gates be put to death for releasing software with a default password set or something.

[maccuswell.livejournal.com]

BTW, it's amusing that I was putting up some of my own recent code on my LJ and then ran across this entry. Amusing juxtaposition of posting.