Lately, I’ve found myself constantly battling people online over ideology.
More and more, people are applying philosphy or ideology to code. It’s most prevalent in basic web developement than anything. CSS Positioning vs. Tables is the main battle, but there are many other areas the same basic argument is thrown around. Personally, I find that I’m generally using more CSS-P than Tables to handle my layouts, but some layouts or situations require tables to correctly display without a load of css hacks (for IE and FF and Safari, they all have their shortcomings). I think its more prudent to use a tried and true (tables) method over CSS Hacks that might break with the next incarnation of browesers. The very reason behind not using tables is based almost entirely on ideology.
That’s as far though, as I’m willing to argue my points specifically to that problem. It’s a tired arguement and neither side is ever going to agree.
What does bother me though, is the reasoning behind the arguements. Be it this one, OOP vs Procedural, or any other number of arguments that infect our side of the world on a constant basis. My basic thought is that ideology or philosophy should never play a part in code. Ever. Our jobs as developers is to use the tools we are given and create the desired end result. If two different methods get you to the same end result, then both of those methods are the correct method. That’s entirely possible. There is no conscience in code. There is no feeling in code. There is functional and non-functional. That’s all. If doing something a particular way makes you feel better, or more confortable, or even more ‘cutting edge’, then by all means do it. I’m all for exploring new ways of doing things. I’m all for change (when its necessary). I have learned lately, that the best choice for me, in the environment I work in, is a combination of both sides of most of the arguments. I use OOP when something is used like an ‘object’. I don’t make helper classes that are just groups of functions because it doesn’t make sense to me. I use CSS primarily for layouts, but I work in an environment where the designer dictates the design. They have a strong sense of what can be done on the web, but sometimes not everything can be done straightforward in css only, so I use tables.
In the end, my point is, It’s just code. It’s lifeless, it doesn’t hold moral values, it doesn’t have feelings, you can’t ’sin’ with code. It’s just code.
Posted in Code | No Comments »
