In search of practitioner perspectives on 'good code'
Gail Ollis · Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University) · 2012
Much of a software developer's job involves working with existing code. The comprehensibility of code therefore has a significant and ongoing effect which can continue long after it was written. Personal experience has shown that some programmers' code is frustrating and time consuming to work with, while others write code that is crystal clear. This paper sets out the basis for a definition of 'good programmer' which emphasises the powerful but invisible productivity consequences for others, rather than the more readily measurable performance of the individual. The conjectured role of personality in shaping such characteristics is also discussed.