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> Software isn't an art project; it's a practical tool to solve practical problems.

Yet me and my colleagues have seen code that resembles abstract art far too often - it's interesting to look at, but mind-bogglingly complex. Getting rid of that is a delicate balance act, as you risk stepping on the shoes of the people who wrote the code.

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Yes it's a problem; that's why I've started to use the "this isn't an art project" line, because some people really do seem to treat it as such.

I do see writing software like writing a book. I write it with the future reader in mind. It needs to be meant to be read.

I picture my colleagues or young engineers 20 years from now combing through my programs, learning the problem domain, learning the tradeoffs we made at the time and why it made sense.

Which means you need to throw out half of the initial version and rewrite it!

Absolutely! Prototypes are great

with that analogy, I'd say code is more like the annotations of the manuscript before the reader sees the final print of the book

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