On the Revolution Systems blog, the author has a good, common sense approach to making source code more programmer friendly: use better names and be consistent.

Though this is kind of like a “duh” moment, it’s amazing how frequently these practices are ignored. I’ve looked at a lot of source code that was simply horrible because the variable names were concise to the point of being worthless; for example, $tobj could be “temp object”, “time object”, or even “total observational bone joint”. You get the idea.

Alternatively, I’ve also seen code that had an object named something like “Group.classObject.Frame.Widget1.VariableTimer.CountdownToNextEvent”. Even using auto tools like in Visual Studio, it’s still a pain in the butt to write out a name like that every time.

Consistency is another big item. There always seems to be a push to standardize things, especially at my current shop. But even with all the SOPs and policies, I still haven’t actually seen anything discussing variable naming conventions, commenting standards, or even how source code should be put into the code repository. I think part of this is because we rely on the configuration manager to handle things like these; just give the code to the CM and he’ll take care of the logistics.

But what happens when he’s not around and you have to do it yourself? How do you train new people? What about audits or showing senior management how work is accomplished? Standards are made for a reason. They make life easier for everyone.

Found an article this morning discussing 10 dirty secrets of the IT industry. It’s quite interesting and enlightening. Not to mention pretty truthful, at least in my experience. The comments are also interesting.

If you work in IT or are planning on it, I recommend taking a read. One of my favorites (mainly because I see it far too much in the military/government sector):

3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies

A lot of companies could implement more cutting edge stuff than they do. There are plenty of times when upgrading or replacing software or infrastructure can potentially save money and/or increase productivity and profitability. However, it’s often the case that one of the largest roadblocks to migrating to new technologies is not budget constraints or management objections; it’s the veteran techies in the IT department. Once they have something up and running, they are reluctant to change it. This can be a good thing because their jobs depend on keeping the infrastructure stable, but they also use that as an excuse to not spend the time to learn new things or stretch themselves in new directions. They get lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied.