200: "Bad Code" with Damien Burke

02:58 - Damien’s Superpower: Being able to hold contradictory beliefs at the same time.

• Working in VERY Local Government (for the City of Los Angeles)

07:05 - What is “Bad Code”?

• Episode 188: Going Off the Rails with Damien Burke (Damien’s Previous GTC Episode)


• Objectivity vs Subjectivity: Why does code lie on that spectrum?


• Metrics to Measure Beautiful Code:


• Does it make the world a better place?


• Is it clear?

16:38 - What should you do with “Bad Code”?

• Nothing? (I know it’s bad but it’s okay!)


• Do it later? (If you can put it off and make it better later, put it off!)

19:12 - Working With Others: Agreeing on “Good Code”

• Go-to Values
  
  
  • Can we understand this? Does it convey the meaning we want it to convey?
  
  
  • What is most communicative?
  
  

24:34 - Damien’s Background in Hypnosis

• Speaking to the Subconscious


• Prescriptivity: Judgement & Punishment

34:14 - Doing Things The Easy Way

• Easy Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Fast

41:07 - Distinctions Between Teaching and Learning

• Learning is Goal-Driven


• Perfection


• Numbers tell a story. Numbers can’t give you wisdom.

54:02 - Creating Shared Understanding (in code)

Reflections:

Jamey: 1) Doing things yourself. 2) I want code to be beautiful because I like things that are beautiful.

Rein: The importance of small changes.

Damien: The power of language and story and its’ application in the engineering world in a team and in the code you write.

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Special Guest: Damien Burke.

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