Coding standards without control?

E

editormt

A recent poll asked if programming standards are used by development
organisations... and if they are controlled.

None: 20%
Yes, but without control: 49%
Yes, with control: 31%

Participants: 369

Source: Methods & Tools (http://www.methodsandtools.com)

A majority of the participating organisations have coding standards...
and a majority does not control them ;o) What is the situation at your
location? Does this lack of control really hurt?
 
A

Andrew Thompson

editormt said:
A recent..

I note that you are too busy multi-posting to
add any actual opinions of your own that
might start a discussion.

Are you sure you have enough time to read the
responses in any case?

Andrew T.
 
S

Simon Brooke

editormt said:
A recent poll asked if programming standards are used by development
organisations... and if they are controlled.

None: 20%
Yes, but without control: 49%
Yes, with control: 31%

Participants: 369

Source: Methods & Tools (http://www.methodsandtools.com)

A majority of the participating organisations have coding standards...
and a majority does not control them ;o) What is the situation at your
location? Does this lack of control really hurt?

This is necessarily the case on all open source projects. If the lack of
control hurt, it wouldn't be the case that open source code was generally
better than proprietary code.

In open source, coding standards get enforced by informal means - if people
write unmaintainable crap, it doesn't get used. In the workplace, this
comes out through mentoring, through buddy programs and through code
review. And through colleagues looking at your code and saying 'who wrote
this drivel?' Good programmers take pride in their craftsmanship; they
don't need standards enforced, just pointed out to them when they deviate.
Bad programmers? Lose 'em.
 
M

Mark Rafn

editormt said:
A recent poll asked if programming standards are used by development
organisations... and if they are controlled.
None: 20%
Yes, but without control: 49%
Yes, with control: 31%

What a pointless survey. I can only assume it's sponsored by someone trying
to sell consulting service or "control" software.

EVERYONE has coding standards. The degree of specificity of these standards
varies widely, there is no line at which you have standards. And the degree
of control varies widely as well, from devs doing their best, to code reviews,
to software settings (i.e. use a specified eclipse formatter setting), etc.
A majority of the participating organisations have coding standards...

All organizations, including individuals, have coding standards. They vary in
degree of specificity and formality of the standard. The range of options is
large enough that a survey doesn't capture it.
and a majority does not control them ;o)

Any standard is controlled, with varying degrees of formality.
Does this lack of control really hurt?

Not as much as overaggressive control would.
 

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