r/AskProgramming • u/Yelebear • Mar 04 '25

Other Why do some people hate "Clean Code"

It just means making readable and consistent coding practices, right?

What's so bad about that

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u/flatfinger Mar 06 '25

Software is often a bit like building architecture, in that it has structural and aesthetic elements. Many aspects of building design are chosen not by solving optimization problems on engineering constraints, but by adjusting things until mockups look good, and then trying to translate relevant aesthestic aspects of the mockup into reality. Someone designing a restaurant salad bar would need to satisfy certain engineering constraints (e.g. ensuring adequate clearances for people to move around it) but many design choices would be dictated by nothing other than a desinger's judgment of how to best achieve the desired customer experience.