All I Want for Christmas…
I know I've written about my lack of understanding with the apparent desire by Ruby devs to write no comments, but today I officially said out loud: "This is my grown-up Christmas wish: Comments in the code", and I really mean it. I was in the middle of trying to figure out a Sinatra app, and the entire file had one comment, and it was a TODO: as opposed to mentioning what the code was actually doing.
I think I have an idea why this is the case… face it, comments can "ruin" the look of code. It spoils the "line" and "flow" of the code. The only reason they are there is to save time for the developer trying to understand what's happening. But suppose you had a developer that didn't care about the time it took to understand the code?
Then you'd have a person that didn't like comments.
It's not about caring about the "next guy". It's about the beauty and ascetic of the code. And if you simply don't care that it takes you more time to figure things out, then there's no downside. I didn't understand - until now, that it wasn't that they were lazy… it was that they simply didn't care about getting things done.
Certainly not in comparison to the style and look of the code.
Which explains so much.
Why is it that there's so much ping-pong and pool played during regular hours? Well… if you're not concerned about delivering things, this is easy - you have friends here, and the table is right there. It makes perfect sense when you realize that they just don't care.
But Why? That's the biggie, right?
I have a theory, and it's based on a conversation I had with someone here. The focus is on sustainability. If you want to keep people at a position, you pay them well, staff the projects well, and expect a moderate amount of work from them. This allows them time to learn, grow, and rest - while getting a little work done. Consequently, they don't see "management" sweating about a few lines of code… or a few hours to re-learn what it's doing. So no big deal.
This might be the wave of the future, I have no idea. But it seems to me that in comparison to the other places I've worked - including my own company, this is only sustainable as long as they have money to burn. When money gets tight, they will expect more for less, and then things will have to change. At that point, there may be such an entrenched culture, it's impossible. No way to know.
I just know what I want for Christmas, and have a feeling I'm not going to get it...