Taste and Care

What is taste in the craft of programming?

I think of it as a litmus paper for software quality. It shows that maintainers are not only capable of caring for code, but they actually do. Reading tasteful code can unexpectedly stun you (one murmurs "Oh wow, ok"), it can inspire you: it's a form of prose. Tastefully written code is contagious, it can spread through the codebase clearing the brambles, converting overgrown peat bogs of complexity into shrines of clarity.

Tasteful code is not something that you can achieve during the first pass, it requires effort. When it is your own yard, you might put extra work into caring for it. To eventually have a pleasant evening stroll in my codebase - I will rake the fallen leaves instead of letting them rot. Even if it rains.

Why is this not the default modus operandi, then? Likely because not all consider the extra effort worth it. Distasteful code can still produce correct output, all the flowers you have nurtured are mostly gone once instructions hit the CPU, so why bother? Why burn precious calories spinning that lazy engine of ideas if you are still paid at the end of the day?

For some, code is only a means to achieve the goal. Dry, boring, lifeless text - nuisance. And that is ok. Who are these people though? Did they enjoy gardening before and grew out of it? Maybe they found something more meaningful, maybe they moved on. Or maybe they .. forgot?

For others, it is a medium for expressivity. A marble slab of languages, styles, patterns and tehniques ready for you to carve out the solution. No two sculptures are identical and after each - sculptor improves. In time, you create something you are proud of. And I wish you never cease to care.

2026, Lukas