Timeline for Best practices BAD, patterns GOOD?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
24 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 28, 2017 at 6:10 | comment | added | jpmc26 | Your answer here feels ironic in light of this answer. | |
| Apr 27, 2017 at 12:14 | comment | added | Berin Loritsch | @RobertHarvey, Agreed, but all too often that distinction gets lost in the real world. All I'm saying is that I agree with the OP. The line is arbitrarily drawn. | |
| Apr 26, 2017 at 22:33 | comment | added | Robert Harvey | @BerinLoritsch: There's a difference between matching a well-known software pattern to a specific problem, and stitching a program together using software patterns. The latter is cargo-cult, the former is not. | |
| Apr 26, 2017 at 13:03 | comment | added | Berin Loritsch | In many respects "Pattern Matching" exercises are very much like the cargo cult programming you bash. Patterns are socially acceptable best practices, and best practices are not. That's really the distinction I've seen in practical use over the years. | |
| Mar 20, 2017 at 10:29 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://meta.stackexchange.com/ with https://meta.stackexchange.com/
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| May 23, 2015 at 18:00 | comment | added | Richard Marr | @RobertHarvey not getting the relevance of that link. Either you're missing something or I am. | |
| May 23, 2015 at 13:57 | comment | added | Robert Harvey | @RichardMarr: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/21?m=21642833#21642833 | |
| May 23, 2015 at 8:29 | comment | added | Richard Marr | "[Software design patterns] are well-accepted solutions to well-understood problems". You know that's the exact same tautology you're complaining about, right? | |
| Nov 12, 2014 at 16:40 | history | edited | gnat | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
minor wordsmithing
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| Nov 12, 2014 at 13:18 | comment | added | gnat | "which one do most programmers think is correct" :) | |
| Nov 11, 2014 at 15:20 | comment | added | Robert Harvey | @Krishnan: When I ask "What do you mean by 'best'," the answer I often get is "which one is correct," or "which one do most programmers think is correct," which is the same question as "which one is best." | |
| Nov 11, 2014 at 12:06 | comment | added | Krishnan | Not relevant to the answer as such..Can you explain how is this tautology? I did not understand it. //"What programmers generally accept as the correct solution," // | |
| Nov 11, 2014 at 9:11 | comment | added | back2dos | I disagree. The very act of approaching programming as an act of pattern matching is deserving of all the criticism you raise against best practices. The problem is that a tool ceases to be useful when it is put on a pedestal. This problem is universal, and therefore software design patterns are also affected by it. | |
| Nov 7, 2014 at 14:50 | comment | added | Jonathan Eunice | @jwenting Exactly! "Which X is best for Y?" is the same question, for X ∈ {pattern, approach, practice, methodology, technique, ...} Yet we accept X = pattern questions quite happily, yet categorically abhor X = practice questions. | |
| Nov 7, 2014 at 11:00 | comment | added | Walter Mitty | Best practices are not a bad thing, in and of themselves. Asking what the best practice is for a given case is asking for a generic solution to a particular case. I love the phrase "antithesis of thought". | |
| Nov 7, 2014 at 9:51 | comment | added | jwenting | @JonathanEunice a question asking "which pattern is best" is no more appropriate than a question "which methodology is best". | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 17:47 | comment | added | gnat | FWIW first thing I do is try to see how question would look like with "best practice" words removed. If it keeps making sense, fine. But sometimes it happens that this makes it start rendering a "signal of a empty resonant cavity"... | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 17:10 | comment | added | Robert Harvey | No argument there. | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 17:03 | comment | added | Jonathan Eunice | Okay, so you're arguing that patterns are the TRIZ of software design. The patterns against which we match. Fair point. But patterns too can be the subject of cargo-cult adoption and orthodoxy. And in fact, they often are. | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 17:00 | comment | added | Jonathan Eunice | Your outcome-oriented response is admirable. Still not sure why "best practices for X?" is a terrible question and empty resonant cavity whilst "right pattern for X?" is not. A pattern is a software design best practice. | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 16:55 | history | edited | Robert Harvey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 347 characters in body
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| Oct 30, 2014 at 16:53 | comment | added | Robert Harvey | See my update.. | |
| Oct 30, 2014 at 16:52 | comment | added | Jonathan Eunice |
That doesn't answer the question. It is not "why are best practice questions a bad thing?" It's "Why are pattern questions not equally bad?" I could recapitulate the above text with s/best practice/pattern/g and it would still be true.
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| Oct 30, 2014 at 16:49 | history | answered | Robert Harvey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
