in reply to Good, Fast, Cheap: pick the last two or get out!

It all depends on your definition of good. If good means that it works, then I'm with you 100%. If 'good' means that it has to be elegant, that it has to be 'art', then I have to differ. It may be different if you code for a living, but I use Perl only as a sys/network admin, and I worship the good one-time kludge.
If it's fast, if it works, that usually make it 'good' in my book.
Mostly, I'm so pressed for time on a normal day that I can't be concerned with creating works of art, though if it's really ugly code, I can always revisit it after deadline. ;)

~acolyte d4vis
#!/usr/bin/fnord
Update: Just one clarification. I do clean up anything that might have to be used by others in the future. That's just common courtesy.

  • Comment on (d4vis)RE: Good, Fast, Cheap: pick the last two or get out!

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RE: RE: (d4vis)Good, Fast, Cheap: pick the last two or get out!
by cianoz (Friar) on Sep 18, 2000 at 02:03 UTC
    my definition of GOOD(tm) does include "sufficently well written so i can put my hands on it a month later"
    deadlines are important but too short deadlines are simply stupid.
[reply]
      deadlines are important but too short deadlines are simply stupid.

      And believing deadlines are selected according to how long it will take to do the job perfectly is naive. Dealines are selected according to when the product is needed. If I need a script to take care of a frequent problem, I need it before the next occurance of the problem - not two weeks from Tuesday. If that means the code will not be as elegant as it could be - oh well. If it does the job, good enough.

      - email Ozymandias
[reply]
        While I agree with your point, I don't like the example.

        If I am writing the script you are not getting it until the time after occurance after the next one. Why not? Because before scripting a problem I *really* like to do it by hand once. I find doing that that I see a lot of critical requirements that way which I won't get just trusting someone's description of the problem.

[reply]
        i'm not talking about elegance!
        even the most stupid script need to be maintained!
[reply]

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