By: Eric Lewis
Individuality in programming is much like the expression of one’s self in being able to wear clothing that best describes your character and makes you comfortable. While some people like to dress to impress and other enjoy wearing pajamas even to the fanciest of restaurants you get a feel for the person immediately by how they represent themselves. Imposing a formal dress code much like they do at some businesses, the military, and schools arguably (and a topic for another day) can take away that sense of individuality.
You might ask what dress codes and the ability to make decisions on what it is you will wear that day to express ‘You’ to the world has to do with programming. For those who are reading this and have been involved in software or database development whether you’re new or a seasoned veteran you will know that every programmer has their own style, to quote my colleague and Mentor Todd Weller “programming takes on the personality of the programmer”.
Sure there are common ‘rules’ for naming conventions such as UpperCamelCase or camelCase and many others that we don’t need to get into. But even if one company follows one uniformed procedure for naming their variables and others work pieces involved in development you can still get a glimpse at the individuality in their coding. One programmer may use more commenting or more white space then another coder. They may use names that directly reflect the action or object that they are trying to accomplish. In this sense, every programmer has their own sense of individuality even if they do have to (unwillingly) get out of their pajamas to get to work. The question I would like to leave every reader with is what outfit best describes your coding style? For me it’s definitely Footy Pajamas.
