Against Best Practices

(www.arp242.net)

279 points ingve | 1 comments | 18 Nov 24 07:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.199s | source

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agentultra ◴[18 Nov 24 14:14 UTC] No.42172433[source]▶

I think the rejection is too strong in this article. The idea of, “best practices,” comes from an established Body of Knowledge. There is one published for software development called the SoftWare Engineering Body of Knowledge or SWEBOK; published by the IEEE.

The author seems to be arguing for nuance: that these “laws,” require context and shouldn’t be applied blindly. I agree.

However they shouldn’t be rejected out of hand either and people recommending them aren’t idiots.

Update: one problem with “best practices,” that I think the article might have unwittingly implied is that most software developers aren’t aware of SWEBOK and are repeating maxims and aphorisms they heard from others. Software development is often powered by folklore and hand waving.

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javcasas ◴[18 Nov 24 14:43 UTC] No.42172691[source]▶

>>42172433 #

I'm one of the devs not aware of the SWEBOK. Searching the internet all I can find is links to "the guide to SWEBOK".

https://ieeecs-media.computer.org/media/education/swebok/swe...

But, you know, I want the whole ordeal. I want the SWEBOK, not the "how to read the SWEBOK". Where can I find it?

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1. desbo ◴[18 Nov 24 15:01 UTC] No.42172910[source]▶

>>42172691 #

I think that is what you want. From Wikipedia:

> In 2016, the IEEE Computer Society kicked off the SWEBOK Evolution effort to develop future iterations of the body of knowledge. The SWEBOK Evolution project resulted in the publication of SWEBOK Guide version 4 in October 2024.

So the thing called "SWEBOK Guide" is actually the reference text for SWEBOK.

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