I really expected to see a discussion about this on HN.
I find this to be an interesting and very pragmatic approach to programming, and I've never really seen anyone talk about this style before. It seems like it would require quite a bit of experience though, since the idea is basically to constantly make judgements about what level of compression, or structure, will give the best cost/benefit ratio now and for the future. So I wonder how well a less experienced programmer, such as myself, could make those decisions, with less knowledge about the consequences of the different options.
Maybe without enough experience it gets hard to decide "holistically" indeed. On the other hand, going into "let's design some class hierarchy first!" without enough experience is just as bad; and most likely even worse.
I find this to be an interesting and very pragmatic approach to programming, and I've never really seen anyone talk about this style before. It seems like it would require quite a bit of experience though, since the idea is basically to constantly make judgements about what level of compression, or structure, will give the best cost/benefit ratio now and for the future. So I wonder how well a less experienced programmer, such as myself, could make those decisions, with less knowledge about the consequences of the different options.