Re: Best practice or cargo cult?

"Cargo cult programming" is a misleading pejorative, in that real cargo cults are doing something that worked before, even though it is no longer effective, like the guys who worship Prince Philip, thinking he's a local Chinese guy from their island who emigrated and married way, WAY up.

Comment on Re: Best practice or cargo cult?

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Re^2: Best practice or cargo cult? by Anonymous Monk on Jun 21, 2006 at 18:04 UTC
real cargo cults are doing something that worked before, even though it is no longer effective It's not quite even that. Cargo cults aren't just doing what worked before; they're a combination of a valid scientific methodology, and a belief system ("voodoo") which essentially suggests that function follows form, and not vice versa. Once you believe in voodo, and discount reality to maintain your beliefs, cargo cults make a twisted kind of sense. Then again, once you're willing to discount reality, just about any religion or crazy belief system can make a twisted kind of sense, or at least redefined "sense" until it fits. :-)	[reply]

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Re^2: Best practice or cargo cult?
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 21, 2006 at 18:04 UTC

real cargo cults are doing something that worked before, even though it is no longer effective

It's not quite even that. Cargo cults aren't just doing what worked before; they're a combination of a valid scientific methodology, and a belief system ("voodoo") which essentially suggests that function follows form, and not vice versa.

Once you believe in voodo, and discount reality to maintain your beliefs, cargo cults make a twisted kind of sense. Then again, once you're willing to discount reality, just about any religion or crazy belief system can make a twisted kind of sense, or at least redefined "sense" until it fits. :-)

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