Code can definitely only sort of work: only works on the happy path, only works on the computer it was developed on, only works for some versions of some dependencies, only works when single threaded, only works when the network is fast enough, only works for a single user at a time etc etc etc.
Software engineering is way more of a social practice than you probably want to believe.
Why is the code like that? How are people likely to use an API? How does code change over time? How can we work effectively on a codebase that's too big for any single person to understand? How can we steer the direction of a codebase over a long timescale when it's constantly changing every day?
this is wrong. I would argue the difference between a junior dev/intern and a senior engineer is that while both can write code that works, the juniors find local maximas, like solutions that work, but can't scale, or wont be very easy to integrate/add features on top/maintain etc.
This happens in maths, biology, in all science fields. Experience is partly the ability to take decisions between options that both work.
This is why coding assistants are amazing at executing things you are clear on what you want to do, but can't help (yet) on big picture tweaks
rijoja|7 months ago
if your code doesn't work it doesn't work
you can't bullshit a computer
for people that are doing social science it's an issue
but they where way past the point of no return already so it doesn't really matter
grues-dinner|7 months ago
Code can definitely only sort of work: only works on the happy path, only works on the computer it was developed on, only works for some versions of some dependencies, only works when single threaded, only works when the network is fast enough, only works for a single user at a time etc etc etc.
haileys|7 months ago
Why is the code like that? How are people likely to use an API? How does code change over time? How can we work effectively on a codebase that's too big for any single person to understand? How can we steer the direction of a codebase over a long timescale when it's constantly changing every day?
monsieurgaufre|7 months ago
queenkjuul|7 months ago
deepdarkforest|7 months ago
you can't bullshit a computer
this is wrong. I would argue the difference between a junior dev/intern and a senior engineer is that while both can write code that works, the juniors find local maximas, like solutions that work, but can't scale, or wont be very easy to integrate/add features on top/maintain etc.
This happens in maths, biology, in all science fields. Experience is partly the ability to take decisions between options that both work.
This is why coding assistants are amazing at executing things you are clear on what you want to do, but can't help (yet) on big picture tweaks