Gray's Matter | Guess the coder!!

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Aug 02

by Justice~! Technical

Your one hint

Who produced the amazing snippet below?

'we need to check for blank spots
'THINK THIS WAY
'start date one
'end date one
'start date two
'end date two
'start date three
'end date three
'IF THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH START DATE >= END DATE THEN WE'D HAVE MULTIPLES AND WEIRD ORDER

[300 line function follows - a function that is supposed to:
* take a collection of objects
* determine if one is trying to add an object with a duplicate key to the collection]

Was it:

a) a business analyst
b) a developer just out of school
c) a "software architect" with a decade of experience who routinely threw printouts of his code at business reps, saying "You try to understand this then, if you're so smart"?

Comments

#1 Greg Andrews on 8/2/2007 11:01:24 PM

The business analyst would be afraid of code, and the developer just out of school would google it.

So obviously, C. My condolences.

#2 Justice on 8/2/2007 11:05:22 PM

No condolences needed! I recommended a couple of months ago that said architect be removed from our project "for the sake of future quality" as I felt he was a danger to the codebase. That's the only time in my career I've needed to take that step (I've come close in the past but most people are still willing to learn and grow past that state).

I'm just amazed people like this can be hired and retained!

#3 OJ on 8/2/2007 11:34:14 PM

It's the bane of our industry. People manage to get themselves into jobs and stay there long enough to be considered a guru.

I feel your pain mate!

#4 Shaneo on 8/5/2007 2:28:15 PM

I HATE Archtects ;)

Seriously though, I am anal to the point where I review my code constantly. As an architect, it is my mantra to make sure the quality of my code is very good and that people understand easily what I'm doing with it. Afterall, I'm not coding for myself, I'm coding for everyone else in the company and unofficially I'm setting the example!

Inexcusable I think - if that guy cannot explain what he was trying to accomplish there, really he should be removed or at the very least have his prestigious title revoked and given something a little more appropriate like 'intermediate developer'

Good luck

#5 Justice~! on 8/5/2007 6:13:43 PM

Shane, I think we would be being overly generous by giving this poor sap the title of "intermediate developer". I like "sanitation engineer" a little better myself...;)

Totally agreed on everything else. As an architect myself, it never fails to grate on me when I see someone who is not coding with everyone else in mind - thus I am always trying to ensure my stuff makes sense and is peer reviewed. I definitely feel that I have a responsibility to make sure my concepts and ideas are clearly understood!

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