{"id":81091,"date":"2014-12-22T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=81091"},"modified":"2014-12-22T10:36:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-22T15:36:00","slug":"the-beauty-of-code-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/22\/the-beauty-of-code-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty of Code"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"1\"<\/a>

Dependency diagram (Image via TheDailyWTF)<\/p><\/div>\n

This is what ugly code looks like. This is a dependency diagram\u2014a graphic representation of interdependence or coupling (the black lines) between software components (the gray dots) within a program. A high degree of interdependence means that changing one component inside the program could lead to cascading changes in all the other connected components, and in turn to changes in their dependencies, and so on. Programs with this kind of structure are brittle, and hard to understand and fix. This dependency program was submitted anonymously to TheDailyWTF.com, where working programmers share \u201cCurious Perversions in Information Technology\u201d as they work. The exhibits at TheDailyWTF are often embodiments of stupidity, of miasmic dumbness perpetrated by the squadrons of sub-Mort programmers putting together the software that runs businesses across the globe. But, as often, high-flying \u201centerprise architects\u201d and consultants put together systems that produce dependency diagrams that look like this renowned TheDailyWTF exhibit. A user commented, \u201cI found something just like that blocking the drain once.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that knot of tangled hair provokes disgust, what kind of code garners admiration? In the anthology Beautiful Code<\/em>, the contribution from the creator of the popular programming language Ruby, Yukihiro \u201cMatz\u201d Matsumoto, is an essay titled \u201cTreating Code as an Essay.\u201d Matz writes:<\/p>\n

\n

Judging the attributes of computer code is not simply a matter of aesthetics. Instead, computer programs are judged according to how well they execute their intended tasks. In other words, \u201cbeautiful code\u201d is not an abstract virtue that exists independent of its programmers\u2019 efforts. Rather, beautiful code is really meant to help the programmer be happy and productive. This is the metric I use to evaluate the beauty of a program.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read More >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. We hope you enjoy\u2014and have a happy New Year! This is what ugly code looks like. This is a dependency diagram\u2014a graphic representation of interdependence or coupling (the black lines) between software components (the gray dots) within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":745,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16464],"tags":[15208,15205,15202,15207,15206,15204,687,15203,224],"class_list":["post-81091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2014","tag-beautiful-code","tag-brainfuck","tag-coding","tag-dependency-diagram","tag-donald-knuth","tag-git","tag-language","tag-programming","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Beauty of Code<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An excerpt from Vikram Chandra\u2019s \u201cGeek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/22\/the-beauty-of-code-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Beauty of Code by Vikram Chandra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 22, 2014 \u2013 We\u2019re out until January 5, but we\u2019re re-posting some of our favorite pieces from 2014 while we\u2019re away. 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