I really don’t understand this meme. As a longtime professional programmer I regularly go back and review code I wrote last month, last year and last decade; in order to find things I did wrong and learn from things I did right. Sometimes I do get the revelation of “oh, how much I’ve learned since then”, but that’s most often very far in the past and seldomly that I’d be ashamed of writing the same code again now, mostly just a welcome realization that I’ve been able to learn and improve since then.
I can look at old code that I wrote and feel good about the growth I’ve made.
I also can look at old code I wrote, which I need to understand/update, and be really annoyed at my past self.
How annoyed I am is entirely based on what I need to do to the code right now. The fact is, it’s way easier to be annoyed at myself than annoyed at other people.
I barely remember anything I made from 2 months ago lol
This does happen a lot, but have you ever had the opposite happen? Where you go into some of your older code, and not only is it nice to read, but you had anticipated that you’d have to make this change later, and so the design makes the change easy?
That’s happened to me a few times and all I can say is that it takes days for my self-satisfaction to wane.
This actually happened to me last month. I had to touch code from a previous team/project I was on.
I got the call for a collaboration/consult. I forgot everything about it. Jumped in a meeting next day anyway. We pulled up the code. Everything was documented and I had a section with parameters for a “wish” feature that they actually wanted finally. I pointed it out and told them the needful to finish the feature.
Thank you past me. I’ll have to buy you a drink.
Then I had a nice 5pm Scotch.
I used to be better at math and coding. If I pulled up my old project euler solutions I’m not sure I’d understand them anymore.
Happens more often the better you get at your craft. I used to say that if you don’t hate the code you wrote last year, you’re not improving. Well, let’s just say I finally stopped hating mine.
See, this is why vibe coding is awesome. You’ll never have to look at the code ever again!
Who the fuck wrote this!?
‘‘Written by Sanctus Two/Months/Ago’’
someone must have tampered with git history!
I stopped using git blame for this reason.
When I git blame after finding the production issue and see the committer is me
2 months.
I’ve been writing the same software since 2003.
Someone left some real crap in there.
*his own two months old code
Their
Good point…
Also the face almost everyone makes when they open up that tupperware that’s been in the very back of the fridge for the same amount of time as your code.
You store your code in the fridge? Does that keeps the bugs out?
Yeah, but things still sometimes freeze.
Depending on the state of sleep deprivation and flow state, even waking up to the previous nights code is an out of body experience of shock and awe. Either I am surprised at the level of complexity and elegance with the rabbit hole that I went down or it’s a fragmented mess of FIXME placeholders that don’t communicate the brilliant ideas and plans from past me.
TWO MONTHS!?!?
I don’t even know what I did last week!
You and me both! Weekends are very disruptive these days!
That’s why I let my code rest for 2 months before committing.
But… document your code.
Hahahaha for who?!?
Uh… for future you!
Me to future me: lol no
“I’ll remember THAT, it’s such a trivial thing.”
Sometimes I do…most times I’d have preferred better comments but by now I can rewrite it better anyways. So no need for further comments…
You mean… yesterday’s code.
