Code is run more than read (2023)

Code is run more than read

Code is read more than written

This phrase is, by now, common programmer knowledge, a reminder that the person first writing a piece of code shouldn’t buy convenience at the expense of the people who will have to read it and modify it in the future. More generally, code is read more than written conveys that it’s usually a good investment to make the code maintainable by keeping it simple, writing tests and documentation, etc. It’s about having perspective over the software development cycle.

Let me express this idea more succinctly:

maintainer > author

I think this line of thought can be extended beyond code-writing and used as a rule of thumb to identify problems and make decisions.

Code is used more than read

Code is a means to an end. Software should have a purpose, it’s supposed to provide a service to some user. It doesn’t matter how well written or maintainable the code is, nor how sophisticated the technology it uses if it doesn’t fulfill its purpose and provides a good experience to the user:

user > maintainer > author

Or, since we won’t need to distinguish between developer roles anymore:

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