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He revealed the secrets ! (jlai.lu)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] 20 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

Some time ago:

  • Me: "Programming is fun, but user interfaces are a PITA"
  • CS student: "What!? The algorithms I'm given to solve are really complicated!"
  • After a year on a job: "I hate testing user interfaces..."

Some other day:

  • Me: "Programming is mostly copy&paste"
  • Engineering student: "What!? We have to come up with a new solution for every problem!"
  • After a year on a job: "I don't program anymore, just copy&paste..."

Told ya.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Programming is mostly copy&paste

    I don't know what y'all are working on but these comments always scare me ...

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    No matter what you work on, programming is one of:

    • Check the documentation for a library, copy&paste the interface call, fill in the blanks.
    • Pick the best algorithm for the case at hand, copy&paste, change a few variable names.
    • Get out your snippets archive, copy&paste the one you need.
    • Write some boilerplate, copy&paste over and over, then fill in the blanks.
    • Look up how someone else solved your problem, replicate it in a way that doesn't look like copy&paste.
    • Once in a blue moon, come up against an actually novel problem, spend some days figuring out the best way to solve it... then copy&paste the solution back into the project.

    Doesn't matter what you're working on, in the end it's mostly copy&paste 😂

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I work on compilers (we can't/don't even have access to the C++ standard library in my case)... Most of the time, Google can't help me ⚰️😅

    It was definitely a bit more copy and paste when I was working on web applications... But even then, most of the code I was writing was fairly novel / more application and database architecture problems than trying tying libraries together.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago*

    What are databases, other than glorified MS Access (¹)? 😜

    But seriously, if you're working on compilers, then your "target users" are way different than the average thing: you have actual problems to solve, and can stick to the CLI.

    Most copy&paste begins the closer to a GUI you get. Modern web interfaces, have also become a string of libraries and frameworks.

    (¹: once upon a time... I tried to explain to a client, why there was no way on Earth to make their in-house MS Access solution compatible with personal data protection requirements for medical data, like 100% access control and logging. I failed... then some years later saw a story about the same problem on Coding Horror; still wonder if it was the same guy who got some other poor soul to try and go through with it, or if it was a more widespread problem at the time when personal data protection laws got enacted)

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