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Comment by seanwilson

9 months ago

Why is that convincing though? Students aren't experienced coders, aren't working in large teams, and student assignments aren't like long-term large commercial projects.

If you mean the additions here https://web.stanford.edu/~ouster/cgi-bin/book.php, I read these and it still sounds like general rules of thumb you'll only really learn and understand by practicing a lot e.g. "In my experience, the sweet spot is to implement new modules in a somewhat general-purpose fashion" "Having good taste is an important part of being a good software designer".

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seanwilson

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WillAdams  9 months ago

It's better credentials and experiential basis than most other programming books.

Moreover, it is the students' inexperience which give this text credence --- since it results in their making errors and poor architectural/design choices it affords the chance of correction.

I think it is remarkable that the author switched from "modules should be specialized" to "modules should be generalized" (rough paraphrasing, mailed my copy to Brazil and waiting to buy a replacement).

If you know of other books which you merit recommendation and which have a similar or better context for their authorship and exposition, I would be glad to hear of them.

  • seanwilson  9 months ago

    > It's better credentials and experiential basis than most other programming books.

    When considering coding advice, I just don't find credentials or the results of a coding experiment matter much, especially if it involves students. I run through the scenarios in my head and pick the option that makes sense given the context and competing priorities.

    > I think it is remarkable that the author switched from "modules should be specialized" to "modules should be generalized" (rough paraphrasing, mailed my copy to Brazil and waiting to buy a replacement).

    The link I posted has a PDF with the content I think. I guess I don't find the limited example involving a few function signatures compelling (a student assignment to write a basic text editor) or understand why I need to pick whether to trend towards modules being specialized or generalized... you treat it on a case-by-case basis, pick the one that has the most benefits given the context and be open to changing later when it makes sense? Outside of a few rules, it's boring but "it depends" really is the answer to most of these debates. Similar with how long functions should be, writing comments and how to name variables.

    > If you know of other books which you merit recommendation and which have a similar or better context for their authorship and exposition, I would be glad to hear of them.

    Software Engineering at Google is probably relevant for large projects: https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book

    The rest probably best comes from practice, that's how I learned most of what I know here. I'm didn't for example become a fan of strong static types because of advice based on credentials or experiments, but from experience coding with and without types.