Well, I think it’s legit to use software without understanding the code or use hardware without understanding the specifics of the logical mechanisms of the silicon. But when you’re writing software, you really should know what’s in your own code. Anything else is bad form in my opinion.
I don’t like to use libraries I don’t understand. Probably part why I’m not a professional developer, but it’s the principle of the thing - don’t put out code you can’t vouch for.
I mean, yes, it’s way easier to just use the library, trust it works; but by that logic, it’s also way easier to just let an llm code for you.
Probably part why I’m not a professional developer, but it’s the principle of the thing
There’s no ‘principle’ here, that’s something that simply would not be possible in any sort of large project. To suggest all professional software developers read every line of every library before using it is ridiculously unworkable.
…but do yoz “understand libraries” by reading every line of their code, or by reading the documentation? And only in the parts you’re actually interested in?
Yeah, a general understanding is enough. But I think yeah, actually skim over the code, at least get a basic idea about how the internal methods work. Depending on what you’re using the library for, it could be prudent to know more about how data structures are handled.
Honestly, you’ll probably learn something in the process.
The code YOU run. If your code runs other code, that doesn’t fall under this.
“Don’t ride a car unless you know how driving a car works” doesn’t mean you need to understand the chemical composition of the metal in the motor parts
If we all followed that rule, we’d be using nothing more complex than an 8080.
True, but I would think developers should at least be following it with the code they’re actually working on.
It’s an imported library, since when are devs expected to be inspecting the source code of every library they import?
Since forever? Don’t you do security audits on the libraries you use?
One person from the team, maybe. You don’t have every single dev read every line of code in the libraries, which is what is being specified here
it used to be a thing but javascript npm brainrot happened
Well, I think it’s legit to use software without understanding the code or use hardware without understanding the specifics of the logical mechanisms of the silicon. But when you’re writing software, you really should know what’s in your own code. Anything else is bad form in my opinion.
It’s an imported library, since when are devs expected to be inspecting the source code of every library they import?
I don’t like to use libraries I don’t understand. Probably part why I’m not a professional developer, but it’s the principle of the thing - don’t put out code you can’t vouch for.
I mean, yes, it’s way easier to just use the library, trust it works; but by that logic, it’s also way easier to just let an llm code for you.
There’s no ‘principle’ here, that’s something that simply would not be possible in any sort of large project. To suggest all professional software developers read every line of every library before using it is ridiculously unworkable.
…but do yoz “understand libraries” by reading every line of their code, or by reading the documentation? And only in the parts you’re actually interested in?
Yeah, a general understanding is enough. But I think yeah, actually skim over the code, at least get a basic idea about how the internal methods work. Depending on what you’re using the library for, it could be prudent to know more about how data structures are handled.
Honestly, you’ll probably learn something in the process.
The code YOU run. If your code runs other code, that doesn’t fall under this.
“Don’t ride a car unless you know how driving a car works” doesn’t mean you need to understand the chemical composition of the metal in the motor parts
Reminds me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPKGbg16ulU (and also https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0N5baNlQWJCUrhCEo8WlA)