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Parse, Don't Validate (2019)

(lexi-lambda.github.io)
389 points melse | 1 comments | 26 Jun 21 07:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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kortex ◴[26 Jun 21 14:15 UTC] No.27642049[source]▶
This principle is how pydantic[0] utterly revolutionized my python development experience. I went from constantly having to test functions in repls, writing tons of validation boilerplate, and still getting TypeErrors and NoneTypeErrors and AttributeErrors left and right to like...just writing code. And it working! Like one time I wrote a few hundred lines of python over the course of a day and then just ran it... and it worked. I just sat there shocked, waiting for the inevitable crash and traceback to dive in and fix something, but it never came. In Python! Incredible.

[0] https://pydantic-docs.helpmanual.io/

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jimmaswell ◴[26 Jun 21 15:23 UTC] No.27642664[source]▶
I've found this to be simply a matter of experience, not tooling. As the years go by I find the majority of my code just working right - never touched anything like pydantic or validation boilerplate for my own code, besides having to write unit tests as an afterthought at work to keep the coverage metric up.
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1. JPKab ◴[26 Jun 21 16:38 UTC] No.27643369[source]▶
I've worked with plenty of coders who talk about how awesome their code is even though they just write unit test as an afterthought. They also talk about how they don't need validation and everything is just awesome.

I hated working with those coders because they weren't really very good and their code was always the worst to maintain. They are the equivalent of a carpenter who brags about how quickly they can bang nails but can't build a stable structure to save their life.