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The Perils Of Software Engineering
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Andrew Godwin
June 19, 2015
Programming
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The Perils Of Software Engineering
My keynote from PyCon SG 2015.
Andrew Godwin
June 19, 2015
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Transcript
Andrew Godwin @andrewgodwin PERILS OF THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
Andrew Godwin Hi, I'm Django Core Developer Senior Engineer at
Far too many hobbies
"Perils"
Computer Science ≠ Software Engineering
Engineering Mechanical Civil Software Chemical Materials
Mechanical Engineering https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaeklind/
Nondeterministic
Cost of Entry
Civil Engineering
Timescales
Cost of Failure
Aerospace Software Engineering
Cost of Failure
Failure: When, not if
Margaret Hamilton, 1969
Apollo 11 LM, "Eagle"
Web/App Software Engineering
Quick to build and test
Minimal equipment costs
Well-paid
Well-paid
Explicit is better than Implicit
Code Indirection
class MyView(View): def get(self, request): return self.render(request, "template.html")
class MyView(FormView, AuditMixin, OtherMixin): def get(self, request): return self.render(request, "template.html")
class AuditMixin(BaseAuditor, AdditionalStuff): ... class OtherMixin(MyObject, SomethingElse): ...
Async Uncertainty
def async_handler(): with open("my_file.txt", "r") as fh: write_socket(1, fh.read()) redis.incr("key1",
2)
Schemas
{ "id": 342, "name": "David", "weight": 74, } { "id":
342, "name": "Ellie", "weight": "85kg", } { "id": 342, "nom": "Frankie", "weight": 77, } { "id": 342, "name": "Frankie", "weight": -67, }
Clever code is bad Maintainable code is good
xs = [number for inner in nested if len(inner) >
2 for number in inner]
for inner in nested: if len(inner) > 2: for number
in inner: xs.append(number)
Explore and Discard
There is no perfect solution
Throwing everything away rarely works
Backwards compatability is your friend
Nobody is a genius; we're all mediocre
Argue over code, not over ideas
Well-paid
10 years? 100 years? 1000 years?
Who will access it?
What format will it be?
Is it even important?
Over thousands of years, the machine memories have been filled
with programs that can help “ “ A Deepness In The Sky Vernor Vinge
Engineering is collaborative
Build well.
Thanks. Andrew Godwin @andrewgodwin