NYCPHP Meetup

[inforequest]

Jayesh Sheth jayeshsh-at-ceruleansky.com |nyphp 04/2004| wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> this is an interesting discussion: is a "good" program one that is 
> comprised of clean code, or one that fulfills a need?
>
> John wrote:
> >In VB/M$ land, "Hello World" is an example of professional programming.
> >In OS/PHP land (to read these recent posts) even writing phpBB is 
> >unworthy.
>
> This is an interesting point. Thinking back to my own experience, I 
> have the following to say: I created a content management system which 
> I have successfully customized and resold to several customers. It 
> gets the job done, it works without major (security / data loss / 
> usability) bugs, and the customers are happy. But from the point of 
> view of "cleanliness of code" and overall "architecture", there are 
> many things that I would like to change.


And this brings us to the importance of marketng. Yes, the value is in 
the market's need and use. However, is that the only value for your case 
of the CMS you wrote?

If you promote it as an exmple of an updateable websites system that 
works, and is being used by happy customers, can do these great things, 
then yes -- it is a good app.
If you promote it as a CMS, however, it may have negative value. It may 
be compared to other modern CMS systems, and look pale in the 
comparison, and reflect badly on you as a  provider of services.

Just because you're customers are happy doesn't mean your work is good. 
Unless you define your work as making your customer's happy, of course. 
Since you are a small business owner, I understand your dual perspective 
(it has to be respectable and it has to make the customer happy). As a 
programmer, however, you may not have the same perspective. I consider a 
programmer that understands customer realtions a rare find... and often 
a dangerous asset. I don't want my programmer torn between doing it 
right and doing it in a way that makes the customer happy. I want to 
reserve those decisions for myself, as the business owner, and I want my 
programmer to experience anguish and pain whenever he can't do it "the 
right way" (I find those people are the best programmers :-)