Many programmers love to create programs with tricks. These are constructs that perform a function correctly, but in a particularly obscure manner. Typically, they use a side-effect of a function to implement a primary function. Programmers see these as "clever," but, as Allen Macro points out, they "are often merely the stupid use of high intelligence."
There are many ways to explain why tricks are used so often:
- Programmers are extremely intelligent and want to demonstrate that intelligence.
- Maintainers, when they finally figure out how the trick works, will not only recognize how smart the original programmer was, but also will realize how smart they themselves are.
- Job security.
Bottom line: Show the world how smart you are by avoiding tricky code!
Reference:
Macro, A., Software Engineering: Concepts and Management, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall International, 1990.
