Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Code Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow would not approve of this

Physiological: the code compiles, runs successfully, and fulfills its purpose on specified platforms. No one has bothered to even ask about bugs yet.

Safety: the problem solved by the code is worth something to someone, or the code is otherwise of enough interest to be kept around. Someone might have checked it into a repository somewhere or copied it to a USB key labelled “Tim”. So far no one has thrown their computer out of a window while using it.

Belonging: someone out there maybe even actually uses the code and maybe even likes it. Maybe it has an API that makes it possible to integrate it into something else. It’s sufficiently good that its competitors are not obviously better.

Esteem: the code is written to a high standard, with care for style, conventions, performance, maintainability, etc. Someone looking at the code would groan only once, maybe twice.

Self-Actualization: the code transcends its own purpose, carrying enough impact to influence the context in which it exists. Someone on some website has talked about the code in a positive light.