97 Things Every Programmer Should Know

(Chris Devlin) #1

Collective Wisdom from the Experts 17


Frankly, this just sounds like common decency to me—like washing your
hands after you use the restroom, or putting your trash in the bin instead of
dropping it on the floor. Indeed, the act of leaving a mess in the code should be
as socially unacceptable as littering. It should be something that just isn’t done.


But it’s more than that. Caring for our own code is one thing. Caring for the
team’s code is quite another. Teams help one another and clean up after one
another. They follow the Boy Scout rule because it’s good for everyone, not just
good for themselves.

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