The Cult of Magical Thinking

There's no such thing as "magic code". There's just stuff you don't understand, that's surprising or obfuscated or weird. Stop basing your responses to those things on emotions, and start fixing them.

Transcript

1. the cult of magical thinking Brian Guthrie bguthrie@thoughtworks.com http://twitter.com/bguthrie http://www.flickr.com/photos/cayusa/2962437091/
2. What is magic?
3. Lulworth Cove
4. Green field Lulworth Cove
5. Green field Bent domain models Lulworth Cove
6. Green field Bent domain models My First DSL Lulworth Cove
7. Green field Bent domain models Danger My First DSL Lulworth Cove
8. Green field Bent domain models Danger My First DSL Lulworth Cove MAGIC
9. self-inflicted magic
10. magic not magic Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
11. magic not magic Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
12. magic not magic Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
13. magic not magic Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
14. magic not magic Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
15. stuff that makes me feel dumb & uncomfortable stuff I like and understand Ruby on Rails J2EE Automatic Garbage Collection Takin’ out the trash Macros Plain Ol’ Methods Dependency Injection “Call me, call me anytime” - Blondie 2006 1995 1973- Present Day Me, Now
16. stuff that makes me feel dumb & uncomfortable
17. stuff that makes me feel dumb & uncomfortable i suck (but I’m intrigued)
18. stuff that makes me feel dumb & uncomfortable i suck (but I’m intrigued) you suck (and so does your vacuum)
19. code that writes code ...that writes code ...that writes code ...that writes code ...that writes code
20. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/2499825928/
21. “code that just does things”
22. convention configuration
23. “code that just does things” ...that I used to have to do myself
24. attr_accessor private
25. could also be difficult to reason about
26. could also be difficult to reason about what conventions? how are they coupled? how easy is it to break free?
27. too complex? could also be difficult to reason about
28. magic not magic dispel (de-spell)
29. JHOPSBODF LOPXMFEHF dispel (de-spell)
30. DPNQMFY TJNQMF dispel (de-spell)
31. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke
32. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke There’s no such thing as magic!
33. “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” - Mark Twain
34. “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” - Mark Twain WRONG WORD
35. documentation
36. education
37. refactoring for clarity
38. simplification
39. The right amount of magic http://robsuxx.deviantart.com/art/KAT-Puke-Rainbows-203639523
40. “Sometimes, too much magic is too much magic.” - Cedric Beust, 2006 http://beust.com/weblog/2006/04/06/why-ruby-on-rails-wont-become-mainstream/
41. “the magic of yield blocks and the untyped nature of everything” - Some dumb commenter somewhere
42. try interesting things #whyday do:
43. poke yourself and others with the sharp end of a pointed stick do not:
44. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months
45. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months total noob sauce
46. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months total noob sauce hardened ruby veteran
47. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months total noob sauce a danger to yourself and others hardened ruby veteran
48. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months total noob sauce total lack of curiousity total noob sauce
49. 0-6 months 6-12 months 12-36 months 36+ months total noob sauce total lack of curiousity total noob sauce You know who you are.
50. magic =
51. magic = Science
52. </rant> Brian Guthrie bguthrie@thoughtworks.com http://twitter.com/bguthrie http://www.flickr.com/photos/horiavarlan/4273968248/