Love Hate Relationship
09 Feb 2017Coding standards, I hate living with them, but I can’t live without them. I think coding standards are totally lame. I agree that coding standards can improve a programmer’s knowledge of a language, but personally I don’t like them. After a week with working with ESLint on IntelliJ, my impressions are that coding standards are very iritatting. Trying to get that green check mark is very distracting, but when I do get a green check mark it feels relieving.
When learning a new language, knowing and understanding the grammar is very important when trying to make sentences. Coding standards are like grammar to a language. So yeah, I agree that knowing coding standards can, no, will improve a programmer’s knowledge of a language. Also if you follow a standard that other people are following, when you share your work or collaborate on a project together, then it will make life easier for everyone. Coding standards are like the laws of the real world. If everyone followed the rules, it would be a nice peaceful world. If everyone just did whatever they wanted, it would be like the roads in Manhattan (If you have been there, then you know what I mean).
Growing up in Hawaii, I noticed that you don’t need grammar to get across what you want to say. In Hawaii, usually the older locals, speak pidgin English. Prior to a couple of years ago, pidgin wasn’t recognized as an official language, but if you were raised here, you know when someone was speaking pidgin. Pidgin, of course, has a grammar structure, but it is very loose, and even if you don’t follow the rules people will still understand what you are saying with ease. The reason why I mention this is because I see coding like speaking pidgin. To a person who is unfamiliar with pidgin, it might take a little longer for others to understand, but I think that is fine.
A week of ESLint on IntelliJ was really stressful for me. I especially hated it when as I was writing my code, it would throw red lines everywhere. I know in my head that I am not finished, so I shouldn’t be worried about the red lines, but I can’t. Also the most annoying thing was when I wouldn’t get a green check mark because I didn’t have a space inbetween my parameter parenthesis and the open curly brace. I think if I keep using this IDE I will start getting use to it, and won’t find it so fustrating. This reminds me of when I was in ICS 111, and was trying to learn Eclipse. After two months, I fell in love with Eclipse. Hopefully IntelliJ turns out the same.
Though I think coding standards are lame, that doesn’t change the fact that they are very important. Another analogy that relates is, Coding standards are like chores around the house like: laundry, cleaning, taking out the trash, making your bed, dishes, etc. You could get away without doing chores, but if someone comes to your house, it would be uncomfortable for them to see your mess.