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1500 questions
166
votes
10 answers

Is there a specific reason for the poor readability of regular expression syntax design?

Programmers all seem to agree that readability of code is far more important than short-syntaxed one-liners which work, but require a senior developer to interpret with any degree of accuracy - but that seems to be exactly the way regular…
J.Todd
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165
votes
7 answers

What really is the "business logic"?

I'm working with web development since 2009, when I started with PHP. When I moved to ASP.NET, I've heard a lot about DDD and OOAD where a lot of focus is given to this "business logic" and "business rules". The point is that all the apps I've…
user1620696
  • 4,967
164
votes
12 answers

Why does it matter that HTML and CSS are not programming languages?

Example here: What languages should I know if I'm interested in building web applications? Yes, I understand that HTML and CSS are not Turing-complete. Yes, I understand that they are declarative, not imperative languages. But why are people…
Robert Harvey
  • 200,592
164
votes
9 answers

Which HTTP verb should I use to trigger an action in a REST web service?

I am implementing a RESTful web service and one of the available actions will be reload. It will be used to reload configurations, cache, etc. We started with a simple GET to an URI like this: ${path}/cache/reload (no parameters are passed, only the…
Renato Dinhani
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163
votes
13 answers

Is there such a thing as having too many unit tests?

I have been tasked with writing unit tests for an existing application. After finishing my first file, I have 717 lines of test code for 419 lines of original code. Is this ratio going to become unmanageable as we increase our code coverage? My…
user2954463
  • 1,460
163
votes
13 answers

Is using nested try-catch blocks an anti-pattern?

Is this an antipattern? It is an acceptable practice? try { //do something } catch (Exception e) { try { //do something in the same line, but being less ambitious } catch (Exception ex) { try…
Mister Smith
  • 2,997
163
votes
12 answers

When to use C over C++, and C++ over C?

I've been introduced to Computer Science for a little over a year now, and from my experience it seems that C and C++ are both considered to be "ultrafast" languages, whereas others such as Python and such scripting languages are usually deemed…
Dark Templar
  • 6,323
162
votes
1 answer

Why there is no markdown for underline?

I am wondering why there is no markdown syntax for underline? I know that basic html tags can be embedded to achieve this but I am trying to understand why underline got omitted when bold and italics exists
ganessh
  • 1,739
162
votes
4 answers

why are noSQL databases more scalable than SQL?

Recently I read a lot about noSQL DBMSs. I understand CAP theorem, ACID rules, BASE rules and the basic theory. But didn't find any resources on why is noSQL scalable more easily than RDBMS (e.g. in case of a system that requires lots of DB…
ducin
  • 1,739
162
votes
8 answers

Do you have to include a license notice with every source file?

I've been looking for various licenses that I can use for an open-source project of mine, but all of the projects that I've seen, with all kinds of licenses, appear to have a giant, obnoxious (in my opinion) notice in each source file that states…
RétroX
  • 1,901
162
votes
1 answer

Module vs. Package?

Whenever I do from 'x' import 'y' I was wondering which one is considered the 'module' and which is the 'package', and why it isn't the other way around?
Dark Templar
  • 6,323
161
votes
16 answers

When is it appropriate to not unit test?

I work in a small company as a solo developer. I'm the only developer at the company in fact. I have several (relatively) large projects I've written and maintain regularly, and none of them have tests to support them. As I begin new projects I…
Ken Pespisa
  • 1,933
161
votes
9 answers

What is a closure?

Every now and then I see "closures" being mentioned, and I tried looking it up but Wiki doesn't give an explanation that I understand. Could someone help me out here?
gablin
  • 17,525
161
votes
26 answers

Is constantly looking for code examples a sign of a bad developer?

I am a CS student with several years of experience in C and C++, and for the last few years I've been constantly working with Java/Objective C doing app development and now I have switched to web development and am mainly focused on ruby on rails…
Newly Insecure
  • 301
161
votes
10 answers

Would you put your Stack Overflow profile link on your CV / Resume?

If applying for a new job, would you put your Stack Overflow profile link on your resume? This would show the employer you're an active member of the development community and also provide an insight into your knowledge + how well you convey your…
billy.bob
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