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1500 questions
66
votes
1 answer

Swift Protocol Naming Conventions

Coming from a mainly c# background, I'm used to using the term "interface" for describing an object with no implementation that defines behaviour. In c#, the convention is to prepend interface names with "I", as in IEnumerable, etc. Of course, the…
Michael Daw
  • 763
66
votes
1 answer

How are mixins or traits better than plain multiple inheritance?

C++ has plain multiple inheritance, many language designs forbid it as dangerous. But some languages like Ruby and PHP use strange syntax to do the same thing and call it mixins or traits. I heard many times that mixins/traits are harder to abuse…
Gherman
  • 945
66
votes
28 answers

Why are more programmers not freelance these days?

Leaving the whole pie to only a few of them, amplifying the huge differences between the two status. Pay is a (huge) one, not having to do overtime is another. I leave the question open to hopefully get many great answers on all the different…
user2567
66
votes
7 answers

How is IntelliJ better than Eclipse?

I know there have been questions like What is your favorite editor/IDE?, but none of them have answered this question: Why spend the money on IntelliJ when Eclipse is free? I'm personally a big IntelliJ fan, but I haven't really tried Eclipse. I've…
Nicole
  • 28,181
66
votes
7 answers

After years of working alone, other developers will finally see my (buggy) code. What should I do?

I have been working on a system alone for about four years. I have built it from the ground up. It is not a perfect system. It is very complex, it is buggy, and the business is now becoming aware of this. After all this time, other developers at the…
w0051977
  • 7,081
66
votes
17 answers

Is big-O really that relevant when working in industry?

In every interview I have been in, I have been quizzed on mathematical analysis of complexity, including big-O notation. How relevant is big-O analysis to development in industry? How often do you really use it, and how necessary is it to have a…
MM01
  • 1,373
66
votes
4 answers

What's the dominant naming convention for variables in PHP: camelcase or underscores?

The consensus seems to be that one should follow the convention of the platform they're developing for. See: Underscore or camelcase? Naming conventions: camelCase versus underscore_case? However, PHP doesn't seem to strictly follow any convention…
Stas Bichenko
  • 3,709
66
votes
14 answers

Is there any reason not to go directly from client-side Javascript to a database?

Possible Duplicate: Writing Web “server less” applications So, let's say I'm going to build a Stack Exchange clone and I decide to use something like CouchDB as my backend store. If I use their built-in authentication and database-level…
Chris Smith
  • 766
66
votes
4 answers

Why is Java version 1.X referred to as Java X?

I saw that Java 1.2 is also known as Java 2. Do "Java 1.x" and "Java x" (for example "Java 1.6" and "Java 6") refer to the same version of Java? And if yes, why the need for this duality?
Federico Zancan
  • 1,433
66
votes
18 answers

Are long methods always bad?

So looking around earlier I noticed some comments about long methods being bad practice. I am not sure I always agree that long methods are bad (and would like opinions from others). For example I have some Django views that do a bit of processing…
wobbily_col
  • 1,881
66
votes
4 answers

Is Haskell's type system formally equivalent to Java's?

I realize some things are easier/harder in one language than the other, but I'm only interested in type-related features that are possible in one and impossible/irrelevant in the other. To make it more specific, let's ignore Haskell type extensions…
user39685
66
votes
11 answers

Why is it good to split a program into multiple classes?

I'm still a student in high school (entering 10th grade), and I have yet to take an actual computer course in school. Everything I've done so far is through books. Those books have taught me concepts such as inheritance, but how does splitting a…
kullalok
  • 1,085
66
votes
38 answers

What are the warning signs of impending doom to watch out for on a project?

Having worked on a failed project is one of the few things that most programmers have in common, regardless of language used, industry or experience. These projects can be great learning experiences, soul-crushing disasters (or both!), and can occur…
ConroyP
  • 785
66
votes
16 answers

Do We Have a Responsiblity to Improve Old Code?

I was looking over some old code that I wrote. It works, but it's not great code. I know more now than I did at the time, so I could improve it. It's not a current project, but it's current, working, production code. Do we have a responsibility…
jmq
  • 6,078
66
votes
8 answers

Is ORM an Anti-Pattern?

I had a very stimulating and interessting discussion with a colleague about ORM and its pros and cons. In my opinion, an ORM is useful only in the rarest cases. At least in my experience. But I don't want to list my own arguments at this time. So I…
derphil
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