aeva
you ever go wow i sucked at programming last year (but not anymore!) while fixing bugs
Jan 26 at 11:40pmWeb
Show threadEfi (nap pet) 🦊💤Jan 26
@aeva all the time
I even go "wow, i sucked last week"
Show threadDeeAnn LittleJan 26
@efi @aeva I was once a Perl programmer heavily leaning on regular expressions. By afternoon my morning code already sucked.
Show threadcthos 🐱Jan 26
@aeva every year!
Show threadcrabJan 26
@aeva it's a good thing i became flawless in the past two to four months
Show threadaevaJan 27
@operand being flawless will take you far in life
Show threadPatrick DownJan 26
@aeva yes, “why did I think that was a good idea” is a question I often ask myself.
Show threadSimon RichterJan 27
@aeva I read an old paper I wrote in high school, and went "whoa, I used to be so thorough."
Show threadGlyphJan 27
@aeva usually about once a year yeah
Show threadWillJan 27
@aeva I tend to have an even mix of "what the heck was I thinking" and "I hecking *told* them, but nobody at my employer saw fit to allocate time to fix this".
Show threadLRJan 27
@aeva the most salient moments of this are a few years in the past for me. you *do* get better. most things i find now are code that hasn't been "garbage collected"
Show threadaevaJan 27
@lritter in this case it was a bad decision made under pressure that I had already refactored out a year prior, I just missed a spot. i like to think i've been able to code most programmers under the table for quite a long time now, but that's not really all that hard a bar to clear tbh.
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@aeva @lritter we should fight. mano a mano
Show threadaevaJan 27
@hipsterelectron @lritter I'm a lover not a fighter 😎
Show threadLRJan 27
@aeva @hipsterelectron "it's a date!"
Show threadaevaJan 27
@lritter I think @hipsterelectron might be a fighter tho
Show threadLRJan 27
@aeva @hipsterelectron surely there's a lover in there
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva https://circumstances.run/@hipsterelectron/115744204445994364
d@nny disc@ mc² (@[email protected])

people seem to be under the impression that hating arises from hate rather than an indefatigable spring of the purest love

GSV Sleeper Service
Show threadLRJan 27
@hipsterelectron @aeva selective love, but love all the same
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva on the contrary. the only form of unconditional love there is
Show threadLRJan 27
@hipsterelectron @aeva how so
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva criticism arises from the assertion of a better world
Show threadaevaJan 27
@hipsterelectron @lritter well ok we can have that fight. but I need to go to bed, so I designate LR to be my proxy. both of you please make your way to the nearest walmart parking lot
Show threadaevaJan 27
@hipsterelectron @lritter it works better if you pick the same one
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@aeva @lritter yes ma'am
Show threadLRJan 27
@hipsterelectron @aeva so you love the better world the most?
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva it's love because it provides a structure by which someone can improve rather than simply dismissing them entirely
Show threadLRJan 27
@hipsterelectron @aeva are these the only two options?
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva sure, i could compromise my ideals
Show threadLRJan 27

@hipsterelectron @aeva compromises should be renamed. bad marketing.

a compromise should be the intersectional point all negotiators feel the least strongly about: neither like they are losing, nor like they are winning.

i know you like strong feelings so this probably does not sound very appealing.

Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva criticism opens the floor for just such a process
Show threadLRJan 27

@hipsterelectron @aeva i'm not going to interfere with your internal householding.

but in recent years i am more and more wondering if idealism has any inherent value.

Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jan 27
@lritter @aeva nihilism is the alternative
Show threadShizJan 27
@lritter @aeva @hipsterelectron I have definitely been on dates based on the premise "I can kick your ass in $videogame"
Show threadLRJan 27
@shiz @aeva @hipsterelectron if i may ask, which game?
Show threadShizJan 27
@lritter @aeva @hipsterelectron she said she'd beat my ass in Smash Melee, I said I'd beat her ass in Guitar Hero 3; we were both correct
Show threadShizJan 27
@lritter @aeva @hipsterelectron (one of the later dates was playing Touhou versus but we were smart enough not to make any loud proclamations about that one beforehand)
Show threadhelieloJan 27

@aeva my entire work day today was owning up to a blunder I made last week

So I guess at least I’m aware I suck at programming for a little while

Show threadaevaJan 27
@helielo no no you don't suck at programming now you just sucked at it last week it's fine now
Show threadhelieloJan 27

@aeva ah of course!

I wonder what genius I’ll come up with tomorrow

Show threadJoni KorpiJan 27
@aeva the yearly anxiety-induced refactoring
Show threadaevaJan 27
@jonikorpi I enjoy it. it's like all the bad spirits leaving the code
Show threadJoni KorpiJan 27
@aeva and a new one enters
Show threadSnoopJJan 27
@aeva yes, and the best(?) time is when I at least left a comment nearby the fault that something didn't seem quite right, but because of [reasons] I was moving on, or documenting an assumption that later became violated.
Show threadGeePawHillJan 27
@aeva Part of my shtick in introducing the first rule of code review ("You are not your code."): I ask them to think to themselves how long since the last time they wrote code they weren't proud of. I give them 20 seconds, then I answer the question for myself. I raise my wrist as if to look at my watch, and say, "Idunno, what time is it now?"
Show threadDaniel GibsonJan 27

@GeePawHill @aeva
IMO there is a difference between "I sucked at programming" and "I made a stupid mistake" or "I wrote crappy code under pressure" or whatever.

For me, "I sucked at programming (but am better now)" usually happens for code several years old, "I made a mistake" happens more frequently and in that case I don't assume that I wouldn't make a similar mistake again

(hopefully I'll at least not make the same one again, though obv. even that happens too - at least easier to find then)

Show threadTekniquelly correctJan 27
@aeva For about 45 years straight, yes.
Show threadaburka 🫣Jan 27
@aeva yeah it's so weird how I can do it every year
Show threadClifton RoystonJan 27

@aeva

Constantly, but I’m trying to gain enough awareness to drop the parenthetical clause.

Sadly, the odds are all too high that I am blithely introducing a new bug while fixing the current bug.