Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
154
votes
11 answers

Is my work on a developer test being taken advantage of?

I am looking for a job and have applied to a number of positions. One employer responded. I had a pretty lengthy phone interview (perhaps an hour +) and they then set me up with a developer test. I was told that the test was estimated to take…
CodeWarrior
  • 1,253
154
votes
50 answers

My boss wants a narrated line-by-line English explanation of our code

I have been specifically asked to give line by line (or as appropriate - for example, image by image, etc.) explanation or commentary which my boss wants to be able to read and follow. Since he is not a programmer, he can not follow the code so…
Billy Moon
  • 329
153
votes
14 answers

Did the Gang of Four thoroughly explore "Pattern Space"?

Ever since I first learned about the Gang of Four (GoF) design patterns, at least 10 years ago, I am having the impression that these 23 patterns should be only a small sample of something much larger which I like to call the Pattern Space. This…
Frank Puffer
  • 6,459
153
votes
1 answer

What are the advantages and disadvantages of cryptographically signing commits and tags in Git?

So someone peer reviewed my work, and he told me that I should always sign my commits and tags cryptographically. When asked why, he didn't know to explain it to me, and said "It's just a good thing to do". Trying to avoid an obvious chimpanzee…
Madara's Ghost
  • 8,997
153
votes
12 answers

Is this a violation of the Liskov Substitution Principle?

Say we have a list of Task entities, and a ProjectTask sub type. Tasks can be closed at any time, except ProjectTasks which cannot be closed once they have a status of Started. The UI should ensure the option to close a started ProjectTask is never…
Paul T Davies
  • 3,184
153
votes
14 answers

What is the ideal length of a method for you?

In object-oriented programming, there is of course no exact rule on the maximum length of a method , but I still found these two quotes somewhat contradicting each other, so I would like to hear what you think. In Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile…
Spring
  • 1,763
152
votes
6 answers

Why hasn't a faster, "better" language than C come out?

With all the new "modern" languages out today, how is it that C is still heralded as the fastest and "closest to the machine"? I don't really believe in there ever being only one correct way to do things, and C has been around for a really long time…
Jason
  • 2,037
152
votes
14 answers

Does auto make C++ code harder to understand?

I saw a conference by Herb Sutter where he encourages every C++ programmer to use auto. I had to read C# code some time ago where var was extensively used and the code was very hard to understand—every time var was used I had to check the return…
Mircea Ispas
  • 1,653
152
votes
22 answers

Stuck due to "knowing too much"

Note more discussion at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4037794 I have a relatively simple development task, but every time I try to attack it, I end up spiraling in deep thoughts - how could it extending the future, what are the 2nd generation…
Ran Biron
  • 457
152
votes
6 answers

What is the point of having every service class have an interface?

At the company I work at, every service class has a corresponding interface. Is this necessary? Notes: Most of these interfaces are only used by a single class We are not creating any sort of public API With modern mocking libraries able to…
Bob Roberts
  • 1,847
152
votes
13 answers

Is it just me or is this a baffling tech interview question?

Background I was just asked in a tech interview to write an algorithm to traverse an "object" (notice the quotes) where A is equal to B and B is equal to C and A is equal to C. That's it. That is all the information I was given. I asked the…
Matt Cashatt
  • 3,325
152
votes
5 answers

What are the key points of Working Effectively with Legacy Code?

I've seen the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code recommended a few times. What are the key points of this book? Is there much more to dealing with legacy code than adding unit/integration tests and then refactoring?
Armand
  • 6,528
151
votes
2 answers

What is a "shaded" Java dependency?

JVM developer here. Lately I've seen banter on IRC chat rooms and even in my own office about so-called "shaded" Java libraries. The context of the use will be something like: "Such and so provides a "shaded" client for XYZ." Perfect example is…
smeeb
  • 4,950
  • 10
  • 33
  • 52
151
votes
11 answers

How can I find a good open source project to join?

I just started working a year ago, and I want to join an open source project for the same reasons as anyone else: help create something useful and develop my skills further. My problem is, I don't know how to find a project where I'll fit in. How…
Pops
  • 4,123
  • 4
  • 29
  • 41
151
votes
10 answers

How much business logic should the database implement?

I've worked in some projects where most of the business logic was implemented on the database (mostly through stored procedures). On the other side, I've heard from some fellow programmers that this is a bad practice ("Databases are there to store…
Raphael
  • 2,027
1 2 3
…
99 100