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Should we let object oriented programming Rest In Peace?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

This is not an obituary for object oriented programming, nor do I think that I have to write one any time soon. This is a post to rally the fanatics, the converted and the blessed to do something about the state of OOP in our community.

At Developer Summit last year Joakim Sundén talked about the ethics in our line of business, or rather the lack there of, and how there is a vast amount of developers that just don't care about the quality of their code. With arguments like "I don't have time to do OOP" or "OOP looks good on paper but in real life it won't work" is not uncommon and are tightly coupled with solutions built on transaction scripts and huge methods (and often in companion with the same arguments coupled with other trade skills like documentation, tests and basic software engineer practices).

My feeling is that the "I don't have time to do OOP" really means "I don't have time to learn OOP" and this is even more serious. The moment we as developers stop perfecting our skills, that's the moment where the industry is in danger and the moment where the industry starts accepting bad quality, expensive maintenance and code that's disconnected from the business. Should we take this? Should we let the laziness of some developers set a mark of shame for the whole trade?

I for sure won't!

It's time to rally resistance against these lazy developers, rally against their unwillingness to perfect their skill in the trade, rally against ludicrous arguments that in some circles are treated as, and sold to clients, as truths.

I call upon the developers that think that the trade is worth a better faith to start to meet this cancer wherever it shows it's ugly face. It's to easy to sigh and say "they just don't get it and I don't have the time nor energy to make them". Stop, make your voices heard, take your responsibility for the over all view of our trade.

And Remember:

"All that is required for the triumph of evil, is for good people to remain silent and do nothing"

Now go out and evangelize, strike down wherever evil surfaces and make damn sure that ethics, long-term quality and the willingness to perfect ones skills will be the ruling mentality in our line of trade.

Do not stay silent!

Comments

	9/25/2008 1:21:00 PM - Jonas Salomonsson

I completely agree, however I would like to turn things around a bit. I really think that OOP IS the lazy developers way to go. Once the foundation is set there's plenty of time to save and life will be a lot easier. When the domain model is in place, your factories and repository classes etc are done you can just "sit back and enjoy the ride", no more redundancy, you know exactly where to go to find or expand certain functionality and so on.

	9/25/2008 2:57:00 PM http://www.rogeralsing.com - Roger Alsing

The more bad code there is out there. The more work I get.. Why should I want to change that? If everyone and his mother started doing perfect systems, there would be alot less work for both you and me..

	9/25/2008 5:01:00 PM https://lowendahl.net - Patrik Löwendahl

: Yeah, the problem is that you need to be far-sighted to realize that. You need to understand that there is a hill to climb before you can get to paradise. : That is one of the ethic problems. As a consultant I would like code that made it impossible to replace me. This is where the ethic code of developers should come in. We should always strive to do our best, never less.

	9/26/2008 5:34:00 PM http://michaelgillson.com - Mike Gillson

Good OOP requires abstracting your tasks. After code is written, refactor and abstract. It takes more time but, as Roger said, this upfront extra time pays great rewards later. If I do something once, good OOP takes more time. Do something twice, good OOP and the sloppy way take about the same time. Three or more and good OOP is faster. Good OOP developers are craftsmen. Besides getting the job done, we are pleased with the quality of our work.

	10/20/2008 12:49:00 PM http://gardebring.com/ - Anders Gardebring

Claiming "I don't have time to do OOP" is a tad odd I'd have to say and is, just as you say, probably just "I don't have time to learn OOP", or maybe even "I can't bother to learn OOP". Once you know how OOP works, it is so much faster and easier to work with than those pesky script languages.

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