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A comment on The Worst Programmer. Parent comment

Re:The Worst Programmer by hn72774 on Saturday September 02, 2023 @12:50PM (#37363199)
"You don't need to add an external dependency for that" "You're violating separation of concerns"

I've found that kind of feedback to be useful actually. And when giving similar feedback it is received better with a small change in wording to make it more about the code and not the person. Even if that is the intention the wording does matter. For example:

"An external dependency isn't needed here, try implementing with XYZ instead." "Split this function into x and y for better separation of concerns"

Removing the "you" removes some resistance to receiving the message .

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Worst Programmer by ted_bunny on Saturday September 02, 2023 @03:07PM (#37364504)
The imperative can rankle too. I like passive voice or "let's" statements.
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Re:The Worst Programmer by AgentOrange1234 on Saturday September 02, 2023 @09:01PM (#37366817)
Yes always “we,” never “you.”

I’ve become fond of mostly asking questions.

I wonder if we could avoid this dependency? Maybe [idea] would work?

Can you see a way to separate the X concern into a module?

Can we split this function up a bit so the nesting won’t be so deep? Would this loop body make a good standalone function?

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Re:The Worst Programmer by hn72774 on Sunday September 03, 2023 @10:05PM (#37376468)
Love this, it's the Socratic method and leads to a better path without telling someone "how" to do their job.
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