Quotes About Communication

The hardest thing about choosing good names is that it requires good descriptive skills and a shared cultural background. This is a teaching issue rather than a technical, business, or management issue.

Il campo @author di un Javadoc ci dice chi siamo. Siamo gli autori. E una caratteristica degli autori è che hanno dei lettori. In effetti, è responsabilità degli autori riuscire a comunicare bene coi loro lettori. La prossima volta che scriverete una riga di codice, ricordatevi che voi ne siete gli autori, e che scrivete a dei lettori che vi giudicheranno per quello che avrete scritto.

So, when and why should we use UML? Diagrams are most useful for communicating with others and for helping you work out design problems.

The name of a variable, function, or class, should answer all the big questions. It should tell you why it exists, what it does, and how it is used. If a name requires a comment, then the name does not reveal its intent.

The architecture of a software system is the shape given to that system by those who build it. The form of that shape is in the division of that system into components, the arrangement of those components, and the ways in which those components communicate with each other.

SERVICES The strongest boundary is a service. A service is a process, generally started from the command line or through an equivalent system call. Services do not depend on their physical location. Two communicating services may, or may not, operate in the same physical processor or multicore. The services assume that all communications take place over the network.

Any comment that forces you to look in another module for the meaning of that comment has failed to communicate to you and is not worth the bits it consumes.

Programming is so hard, in fact, that it is beyond the capability of one person to do it well. No matter how skilled you are, you will certainly benefit from another programmer's thoughts and ideas.

Code formatting is about communication, and communication is the professional developer's first order of business.

Premature Precision Both business and programmers are tempted to fall into the trap of premature precision. Business people want to know exactly what they are going to get before they authorize a project. Developers want to know exactly what they are supposed to deliver before they estimate the project. Both sides want a precision that simply cannot be achieved, and are often willing to waste a fortune trying to attain it.

Indeed, the ratio of time spent reading versus writing is well over 10 to 1. We are constantly reading old code as part of the effort to write new code. ...[Therefore,] making it easy to read makes it easier to write.

So if you want to go fast, if you want to get done quickly, if you want your code to be easy to write, make it easy to read.

A long descriptive name is better than a short enigmatic name. A long descriptive name is better than a long descriptive comment.

Every time you write a comment, you should grimace and feel the failure of your ability of expression.

Redundant comments are just places to collect lies and misinformation.

Any organisation that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organisation's communication structure

One difference between a smart programmer and a professional programmer is that the professional understands that clarity is king. Professionals use their powers for good and write code that others can understand.

Don't Use a Comment When You Can Use a Function or a Variable

Programming is a social activity.

Programmers must avoid leaving false clues that obscure the meaning of code.

To be listened to is, generally speaking, a nearly unique experience for most people. It is enormously stimulating. It is small wonder that people who have been demanding all their lives to be heard so often fall speechless when confronted with one who gravely agrees to lend an ear. Man clamors for the freedom to express himself and for knowing that he counts. But once offered these conditions, he becomes frigthened.

Word gets around." "You mean they communicate?" A third voice. "You bet they communicate. And the next time they do come, you can be sure they'll case the place carefully. We were lucky. These rats hadn't been bothered in years. They'd grown careless.

Building trust is no longer a matter of creating structures and practices within a single culture.

Building trust requires talking and thinking about trust.