I don't like to have too many microposts on this blog, so I've decided to save them up and start a Programming Quotables series. The idea is that I'll post quotes about programming that have one or more of the following attributes:

1. I find funny
2. I find asinine
3. I find insightfully true
4. And stand on their own, with little to no comment needed

Here's the sixth in that series. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

Ahhh... configuration. I sometimes think this is a misnomer. At least in the way that the Java and .NET community have approached config in practice. We've had this trend in which we started jamming everything into XML configuration.

So much so, we often get asked to provide XML to configure features I think ought to be set in code along with unit tests. We've turned XML into a programming language, and a crappy one at that. Ayende talks about one issue with sweeping piles of XML configuration under a tool. This is not an intractable problem, but it highlights the fact that XML is code, but it is code with a lot of ceremony compared to the amount of essence. To understand what I mean by ceremony vs essence read Ending Legacy Code In Our Lifetime.

Phil Haack, Dynamic Language DSL vs Xml Configuration

I thought about this for a minute, and realized that implicit in the conversation are several assumptions (or perhaps more accurately, conventionally perceived "truths") with regard to the craft of software development.

1)"there isn't that much to it" = "software is really easy to write"

2)"We have everything important figured out" = "in a business, the actual software is just icing on the cake"

3)"All we need is a programmer" = "software developers are cogs in a machine, or interchangeable components of an assembly line"

Ethan Vizitei, "All I need is a Programmer"

But do I belong to the company I work for? No! Never!

If that means I'm doomed to walk the Earth for eternity writing code and building beautiful ideas, then that's ok.

No matter how much my job makes me happy, my family and my life outside work are just as important and more. Obsessing about anything is not good. Moderation is good. Do everything well but know when to stop. Do your job well but remember to go and hang out with your friends. Put down the mouse and call someone to go out. Liking your life outside work does not mean you suck at work. It means you are good at living.

Damana Madden, You don't own me, I'm not that kind of girl anymore

The folks who insist on 100% code coverage [for unit tests] are making a useful tool unpalatable to serious programmers.

Andrew Binstock, Is the popularity of unit tests waning?

Hey! Why don't you make your life easier and subscribe to the full post or short blurb RSS feed? I'm so confident you'll love my smelly pasta plate wisdom that I'm offering a no-strings-attached, lifetime money back guarantee!

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