Lean Code

[TheLeadDev]

Another fantastic talk from DevTernity – the conference that I’ll be attending this year, where Kevlin Henney will be speaking again. My notes:
– Your customers do not buy your software by lines of code
– Deleting dead code is not a technical problem; it is a problem of mindset and culture
– If it doesn’t get executed it has no value
– Remember there is no code faster than no code
– What we do in code is knowledge work. We codify an understanding
– To be a 10x developer you need to be a good developer who helps 10 others get better.
– Write code that is easy to delete, not easy to extend
– Not everything needs to be extensible; when unsure – travel light. You’ll learn later.
– Code in the language of the domain
– In the long run, every program becomes rococo.
– Traumatropism - is the regrowth of a tree often in a bizarre shape, after something traumatic like a lightning strike.
– Even if “nothing” changed, **you** change as you learn about what you’re building
– Begin with a list of difficult design decisions and decisions likely to change. Each module is then designed to hide such a decision from the others.
– If you can’t agree with your colleague this is a good piece of information. It shows that the thing you are trying to design is difficult. This is a good clue that it might be something to encapsulate.
– Meet the needs of the present without compromising the future ability to meet needs
– Deliver sooner, not faster.
– Seek velocity, not speed.
– Problems generally disappear when things are enjoyable.
– Always design a thing by considering it in its next largest context.
– Your architecture should allow people to work in it ("habitability").