Comment by pc86 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pc86 | Hacker News Reader

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> Code is never personal. Whatever I say about your code has nothing to do with you.

I've heard this repeated ad nauseum (not just in this thread) and I think it's total crap. You cannot tell me that if you spend dozens of hours writing something then someone comes along and goes line by line telling you how what you wrote is an abomination that you're not going to have an emotional response.

If that's the case it has to go the other way as well. Just finish writing a new process that will save the company $30k a month? Doesn't matter. If your code doesn't have anything to do with you then it's not an accomplishment to write good code (I don't believe this).

Just to be clear, I do think code is personal but I do think people should welcome any constructive feedback, particularly the negative. Yes I feel a twinge in my ego any time someone criticizes my code, even minor stuff; but guess what? When they look at it next time they won't be able to make the same criticism, because I will have fixed it.

Of course the code we write is deeply personal. I think that what he means, however, is that the _criticism_ of code he gives is based solely on the code itself, and doesn't contain any inherent bias based on the author. He's saying "this code is crap" because of objective reasons that he (in theory) holds himself and others to as well, not because he thinks the author is a bad programmer.

People just don't work that way; at least, I don't.

Who reads code without thinking of the author? When I'm derailed by a bug in some library I'm depending on, or see code that works in a way I find unintuitive, clunky, etc., I absolutely think judgmentally about the person who wrote it.

When I'm reading someone else's code and find a solution that's significantly more elegant than I was imagining, I'm impressed by the person's accomplishment, and they basically get points in my head. If I meet them in person I'll quite possibly shake their hand a bit more warmly.

This is normal and natural, and I have to consciously counter-balance that with the learned (but not instinctive...) knowledge that I've written bad code myself, released buggy or clunky code, taken questionable shortcuts, etc..

When I'm in a position to criticize someone else's code (and it's part of my job to do it sometimes!) I usually rewrite my feedback a few times (and sometimes decide it's not needed at all) before writing or speaking to the developer, because it takes a lot of conscious thought to modify my instinctive response into something more fair and effective based on what I've learned over the years.

That's my experience.

Does everyone else actually think that differently?

One of the reason why I keep my mouth shut in code reviews unless something is very critical is precisely this reason. One of the easiest ways to ruin your relationship with your colleagues, or any one for that matter is to comment on their work.

Heck developers are still fine, try talking to a doctor about some other doctor's work, even if all you utter is a minor work of praise for the other guy you will receive nothing short of total angry response loaded with utmost display of ego possible.

Never needlessly criticize someone's work or praise a competitor in front of the person. Unless something big is at stake.

Everything is subjective and everything is personal. That's how human beings work.

humans suck. especially when they pretend to themselves that they are rational

Apparently the part of the brain that decides what we want activates before the logical part; thus we use our powerful brains mostly to rationalize what we already feel is the right answer.

Of course. I do too, it's only human. You gotta be tactful, and you gotta be nice. It's more striving for an ideal state of zen when accepting criticism than anything. Not always realistic, but it's virtuous.

Of course you will feel an emotional response when your code is criticized, and a considerate critic will try to minimize that. But you'd still be the one in the wrong.

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