I think you misinterpret the intention of the article you cite if you think it argues for "sloppy code".

The main point of the article, IMHO, is that it is better to *actually solve a problem partially* than to *try to solve it fully*.

Trying to "solve a problem fully" usually means "not solving the problem", because the problem gets out of hand - it takes too long to solve it, it is too expensive, you don't have the experience necessary, and so on.

But "solving a problem partially" does not mean writing sloppy code. It means to consciously exclude part of the problem from the requirements, and documenting that decision, in form of error handling, documented limits of capability, etc.

Christian Lemburg
Brainbench MVP for Perl
http://www.brainbench.com