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Survey Results

How forgiving are you of other developer's mistakes?

Survey period: 31 Oct 2022 to 7 Nov 2022

Our job is to not allow mistakes in insanely complex systems and we know the consequences of mistakes. To what standard do we hold developers around us?

OptionVotes% 
I have zero tolerance for mistakes by other developers101.34
I don't have a lot of tolerance for mistakes.212.80
If you're doing your best but mistakes happen, that's OK as long as you fix them and learn40153.54
Everyone makes mistakes. Chill20126.84
As long as the mistakes don't affect me I honestly don't care what other developers do304.01
Depends on the situation8611.48



 
GeneralCustomers complaining Pin
Randor 4-Nov-22 2:22
professional Randor 4-Nov-22 2:22 
GeneralWe all make mistakes Pin
Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan3-Nov-22 6:45
professionalAfzaal Ahmad Zeeshan3-Nov-22 6:45 
GeneralAh, the one percenters Pin
MikeCO103-Nov-22 3:30
MikeCO103-Nov-22 3:30 
GeneralRe: Ah, the one percenters Pin
Afzaal Ahmad Zeeshan3-Nov-22 6:42
professionalAfzaal Ahmad Zeeshan3-Nov-22 6:42 
GeneralI don't have a lot of tolerance for mistakes - mine or anyone else's Pin
Daniel Pfeffer2-Nov-22 5:12
professionalDaniel Pfeffer2-Nov-22 5:12 
GeneralRe: I don't have a lot of tolerance for mistakes - mine or anyone else's Pin
honey the codewitch3-Nov-22 5:25
mvahoney the codewitch3-Nov-22 5:25 
GeneralLet's be honest, define a "mistake" Pin
charlieg1-Nov-22 9:26
charlieg1-Nov-22 9:26 
GeneralRe: Let's be honest, define a "mistake" Pin
kalberts2-Nov-22 10:50
kalberts2-Nov-22 10:50 
Then there are those who yell loudly at a co-worker for breaking the source line length limit. Or for using variable names for some concept that differs from how the the corresponding concept is named in a different module. Or some other really non-significant detail.

The next degree would be those who deliberately make their code more readable, e.g. by defining a constant 'ever' to two semicolons, so that an infinte loop can be coded a 'for (ever) {}'. I was once arrested for that one; an infinite loop is supposed to be coded as 'while (1) {}' (and note: 'while (true)' was not accepted coding style).

Lots of self-righteous programmers have their own ideas about how 'proper' code is supposed to look. Anything else is 'wrong', it is a 'mistake'. They do not distinguish between such 'mistakes' and those really causing the software to malfunction, fail, open itself to attacks, leads to drastically overall reduced performance, or whatever.

So the very minimal distinction is: Does the 'mistake' have any significant effect on what the custumer will see? Or are we just talking about interal matters about detail code design? To me, it seems as if co-workers are much more eager to spend energy and anger on those nitty-gritty code details of no significance. (Such as my use of 'for (ever)', which cause a lengthy discussion leading to all of my infinite loops being replace by 'while (1)' in the code base, the proper way of coding inifite loops!)
GeneralRe: Let's be honest, define a "mistake" Pin
charlieg8-Nov-22 3:02
charlieg8-Nov-22 3:02 
GeneralAs long as they don't affect me ... Pin
Bassam Abdul-Baki1-Nov-22 7:40
professionalBassam Abdul-Baki1-Nov-22 7:40 
GeneralHot Under the Collar Pin
BernardIE53171-Nov-22 3:19
BernardIE53171-Nov-22 3:19 
GeneralRe: Hot Under the Collar Pin
charlieg1-Nov-22 9:19
charlieg1-Nov-22 9:19 
GeneralMeh Pin
Cpichols1-Nov-22 2:02
Cpichols1-Nov-22 2:02 
Generalhow much do you really want to do this programming Pin
maze331-Oct-22 23:56
professionalmaze331-Oct-22 23:56 
GeneralRe: how much do you really want to do this programming Pin
Mark_Rees1-Nov-22 3:17
Mark_Rees1-Nov-22 3:17 
GeneralCode review ... Pin
Amarnath S31-Oct-22 23:12
professionalAmarnath S31-Oct-22 23:12 
GeneralIf you're not making mistakes, you're doing something wrong Pin
Erik Burd31-Oct-22 12:20
professionalErik Burd31-Oct-22 12:20 
Generalforgiving who ? PinPopular
BillWoodruff31-Oct-22 5:19
professionalBillWoodruff31-Oct-22 5:19 
GeneralJust try to not make the same mistake twice. PinPopular
OriginalGriff31-Oct-22 3:52
mveOriginalGriff31-Oct-22 3:52 
GeneralRe: Just try to not make the same mistake twice. Pin
trønderen31-Oct-22 4:17
trønderen31-Oct-22 4:17 
GeneralRe: Just try to not make the same mistake twice. Pin
OriginalGriff31-Oct-22 4:27
mveOriginalGriff31-Oct-22 4:27 
GeneralRe: Just try to not make the same mistake twice. Pin
Andreas Mertens31-Oct-22 5:05
professionalAndreas Mertens31-Oct-22 5:05 
GeneralDepends PinPopular
Sander Rossel30-Oct-22 21:49
professionalSander Rossel30-Oct-22 21:49 
GeneralRe: Depends Pin
MarkTJohnson31-Oct-22 5:35
professionalMarkTJohnson31-Oct-22 5:35 
GeneralRe: Depends Pin
maze31-Nov-22 0:01
professionalmaze31-Nov-22 0:01 

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