Meta Discussion: Is there interest in topics concerning code quality?
I've posted a few lengthy topics here outside of programming challenges, and I've noticed that the ones that seem to have spurred the most interest and generated some discussion were ones that were directly related to code quality. To avoid falling for confirmation bias, though, I thought I would ask directly.
Is there generally a greater interest in code quality discussions? If so, then what kind of things are you interested in seeing in those discussions? What do you prefer not to see? If not, then what kinds of programming-related discussions would you prefer to see more of? What about non-programming discussions?
Also, is there any interest in an informal series of topics much like the programming challenges or the a layperson's introduction to... series (i.e. decentralized and available for anyone to participate whenever)? Personally, I'd be interested in seeing more on the subject from others!
Yes I liked your topic on wrapping external libraries. Code quality topics are nice because even if you've heard it before, it always helps to get a reminder. And oftentimes it's something where people can chime in with language specific variants and other kinds of specific optimizations.
I'd be interested but I can't make any promises as to my own degree of participation.
No worries, simply expressing interest could be enough to encourage someone else to make their own contribution :)
I am definitely interested in more posts on code quality. I'm embarking on a somewhat more ambitious personal project, and I would love to be able to apply some of the lessons as I work on it.
If your project is something you don't mind sharing, I imagine you could ask for feedback from the community every now and then. A code review topic could be an excellent opportunity both for you, other readers who want to learn more, and for those who like to lend a hand!
Obviously that's a decision for you to make, but it's an option to consider :)
I do plan on sharing! I just want to get it to the point where it actually does at least a few of the things it's supposed to do before I share it.
I find these sorts of discussions tend towards pedantic pissing matches about performance with no regard to maintainability, if discussion could avoid that I would be interested.
It probably helps that this isn't reddit. Too much ego there. I find that my discussions here tend to be a lot more civil.
Code quality might be a little too narrow topic for such a community size, given the recent number of topics on it. But unlike reddit with its hours long "memory", Tildes is supposed to have long lasting topics which go to top in Activity view when new posts are added, so a couple long lasting topics can keep covering the problem and news.
I don't think there's a community convention where we're supposed to prefer megathreads over specific topics.
Could you give an example topic that would fit ~comp and that you wouldn't deem too narrow, where we could discuss good practices for code quality?
There probably isn't a mega enough thread on this topic. I also can be wrong about low popularity of code quality articles, it was just a personal estimate.
I would argue that code quality itself is rather broad. There are many code design approaches, a large number of them being incompatible with one another, and they often address different development needs. A single programming pattern itself could easily have an essay written on its rationale and its benefits and drawbacks.
If we wanted a more generalized thread, I could see a code review thread potentially being effective as there is more incentive for someone to ask how to improve their code and the natural Q&A structure better lends itself to spontaneous contribution.
That's just my assessment, though. We may be in disagreement :)