RE: Adoption of new RPG techniques

> From: Mike Haston ** Data
> 
> >In fact, a lot of code cowboys use the extra real estate just to make
> long, illegible lines.
> 
> I love it how programmers that try to continue to learn and aren't
> buckling down for retirement at age 40 are called "cowboys".  Giddy up
> lil' feller!

The phrase "code cowboy" has nothing to do with age, or learning.  I
know lots of code cowboys who are in their 40's and up.  They continue
to write code with no concern for the people who have to maintain it
after them.  They ride in off the range, hack in something that works
for the next 20 minutes, shoehorning in the latest coding trick they've
learned whether it fits or not, and then ride off, oblivious to the fact
that the next time someone needs to modify the code, it takes them
longer to figure out what's going on then it took to write in the first
place.

Code cowboys don't believe in comments.

Code cowboys don't follow standards.

Code cowboys believe in the maxim: if it was hard to write, it should be
hard to read, and impossible to debug!

Code cowboys basically don't think about anybody but themselves.

Unfortunately, it's something some people never grow out of.

Joe

P.S. I know these things well, because I was one.  It took years of
writing code for an application vendor before I realized that one minute
saved in maintenance for a hundred end users more than made up for the
hour I spent writing it correctly the first time.