I spent several of my last few days on my last job tidying up design documentation, javadoc, and header comments before leaving. Some parts of the header comment template were useless. How many hours was it worth to have me go through and label each file with its file name, author, and creation date? I doubt that in the year 3007, the historians of that time will be browsing millenium-old source code header comments to gain insight into our life and times. And if I’m wrong, they’ll probably do what we do now and check the repository change history. As it happens, a good CM system will keep track of who checked something in and when. Most astonishing of all, it’s quite easy to figure out the file name by… I dunno… looking at the name of the file on the file system? Believe me, I’m all for sensibly applied engineering rigor, but sometimes the wrong tool for the job just ought to be put back in the tool box.
“Science is the study of what is. Engineering builds what will be.” — Theodore von Karman
The Wrong Tool for Every Job
4 Responses to “The Wrong Tool for Every Job”
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Ahh, joy. Good to see the computer industry is the same as always. >.>
Hope you and H are doing well. ^_^
Pocky! All’s well at the moment, though hectic. It’s all fun and hobbies that are keeping things busy, but I’m thinking maybe I should pick and choose what I want to do with my spare time a little more carefully (he says looking at the months that have gone by since his last blog post). How’s the west coast treating you?
Thai movies?
I doubt that will be year 3007 ^^