Software Best Practices

One of the new features we introduced with the 2.9 release is the Proxy Server. As you know Plastic is all about flexibility, so it can behave as a DVCS or as a centralized system. When you run Plastic in centralized mode, especially on wide area networks or across VPNs, you’ll be hit by network issues...

Developers hate writing documentation. But when you find a weird bug or need to understand why a certain change was done, then you wish you had proper documentation. The problem seems hard to solve. Good comments can help and techniques like diff debugging and proper code review tools can help too. But...

[quote user="Earl Beede"] But wouldn't you agree that there is a subset of all possible practices that have shown themselves over time and multiple areas to be better than other practices? For example, while starting coding immediately can work now and then, doing some amount of planning...

Well, we are sort of where I thought we would be. <sigh> That is, more or less stuck with "Best Practices". </sigh> The comment that any replacement for the buzzword would just become the next buzzword is completely accurate. In the end we are left with what we always have: the...

Kevin's objection to the absoluteness of "best" practices strikes a chord with me. Branding something as "best practice" kinda implies that doing anything else is at best... well... second best. And none of us are inspired by striving for "second best". It got me to...

Beyond the fact that these two words are becoming so ubiquitous that they are starting to lose meaning, I just don't like this phrase. "Why, Kevin", you may ask, "whatever is wrong with wanting to do the best you can". Let me say that I have no particular qualms with any of the...