Code Is a Liability to Developers

Code is a developer’s best friend and greatest enemy

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Code/software gives reward with one hand and problems with the other

Code is a liability to developers once it’s created, not an asset. It delivers the software required but the cost is creates bugs and needs to be maintained. Each line of code created can create problems, consume time and adds to complexity.

Developers job is to write code and create software from the requirements given. Developers turn requirements into working software that people can use.

There is a catch, every line of code has the potential to create bugs and cause problems.

Some problems cost millions of pounds, blow up rockets, put personal contact information into the hands of crooks, or just be slightly irritating.

After code is created, it has be understood, deployed and maintained.

Code is a liability

Every line of code you create is a liability.

Stop to think about it because with our developer mindset the default perspective we have of code is CODE IS GREAT and IN CODE WE TRUST. We rush to create code and only view it as good. Code creates software which the people pay us money to create.

If code is what developers create, why is code a liability?

Creating code is like buying a house. After you buy the house, you have to pay the mortgage and anything that goes wrong with the house you have to fix. You live in the house; you pay all the costs it generates.

Every line of code once written has to be maintained

Code needs to be easily understood, debugged, deployed, tested for the rest of the it’s existence.

Developers can create code quickly in hours or days, but it will be maintained for years until the software is no longer needed. The maintenance for code could be years.

• Maintenance includes
• Read and understood
• Debugged
• Changed and updated