Stephan Aßmus<superstippi@xxxxxx> wrote: > On 22.03.2011 00:33, Axel Dörfler wrote: > > Work arounds are a bad coding practice, and should only be applied > > rarely, and for a good reason. [...] > As seen in the DeskCalc example it may take ages > until someone looks at the problem, even when it's obvious, and then > still comes up with the wrong "fix". So part of your reasoning is > invalid by example. Not at all, as the problem is still there. Unlike you claim, I don't like to leave things "in a broken state", however, I would definitely always choose to keep subtle bugs visible, so that someone (or even I at a later time) comes along and fix it. Bugs hidden in the bug tracker are much less likely to be fixed than bugs that are right in your face, especially the little things. It's not only a waste of time to work around those issues, it's also counterproductive. While we should always try to have a stable trunk, little temporary regressions like this are much more acceptable than introducing a work around for things that should be fixed instead. > > It's criticism, it's not meant to make you feel good :-) Of course I > > could have worded it more carefully and nicer, but I consider you being > > someone who can take criticism, but maybe I found a bad time. > My point is that your criticism was obvious and IMHO unnecessary all > things considered. You specifically pointed out that I wasted my time. How can I know your reasons for implementing a work around? I can only see the end result, and that is just not the way to get things done, and any criticism can only always apply to what's there not what is in your head. Seeing your position above, my criticism was obviously well justified, even though it doesn't seem to have the desired effect (ie. let you rethink your position). Criticism is meant to improve things, and even if it may temporarily demotivate the person it is targeted at, it is usually worth the trouble, and causes a better atmosphere in the long run. > Instead of feeling attacked for a decision I made, > I would have felt like "Ah, good to have friends who take care of some > stuff I had on my TODO list"... Criticism isn't meant as attacking someone, you got that seriously wrong: it's meant to let you sit back, and think about why you have done things in a certain way, and if another way (one of which hopefully had been suggested as part of the critic) would have been the better choice. If you had left the bug in there for me to see, I may well have taken the time to fix it. I don't want to search for any work-arounds all over the place, and remove them (which would also be part of a proper fix now) only to be able to reproduce the bug. Adding a work around is just causing more work for everyone, and is a step away from getting the intended solution, ie. have the bug fixed. It definitely demotivates me to look into a problem in the first place. Bye, Axel.