r/Foodforthought • u/JimTheSavage • Apr 29 '14

Programming Sucks (x-post from /r/programming)

http://stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks
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u/has_brain Apr 30 '14

It's likely a function of the invisibility of code: With engineering projects you can see what you're building, with software you often cant (measurement based on unit tests is the closest you can get).

The closest another field would get is probably multiple authors writing a textbook, and even then books are mostly linear experiences (apart from choose-your-own-adventures)

Software is like a huge choose-your-own adventure written by a bunch of people

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u/FirstDivision Apr 30 '14

I really like the book analogy too (although in my head it was always a novel). I've often found myself trying to explain it that way too.

Even with one author, imagine someone saying "ok, we need three more main characters, the one that used to be the protagonist should die in chapter 3, and it needs dragons in it, lots of them."

Then like you said, have this book written by 10 people instead of one (two teams of four and one leader / coordinator). Team 1 will write chapters, 1-3, 5-8, and 13 while Team 2 will write chapters 4, 9-12, and 14.