[HN Gopher] Principles are products of practice, not the reverse ___________________________________________________________________ Principles are products of practice, not the reverse Author : majdalsado Score : 28 points Date : 2023-11-13 20:20 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (alsado.ca) (TXT) w3m dump (alsado.ca) | cloths wrote: | I can think of one reason for strict adherence to principles is | for newbies, for new starters not familiar with the world they're | dealing with, too many moving pieces can be overwhelming, so | using principles to fixate a few things can be helpful. | earthboundkid wrote: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuhari | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | I started off, from Day One, heavily structuring and documenting | my code. | | These days, I don't even think about it, and my productivity is | pretty much as good as you can get. | | Plus, I am the one that usually has to go back into my code, and | maintain it, so I'm glad of that habit. | | _" We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an | act, but a habit."_ | | - Mis-attributed to Aristotle. | dblohm7 wrote: | You gotta be careful with this one in the context that it is | being applied here (HTML). This risks becoming an ableist mantra | because the practice might be disregarding accessibility | concerns. | jph wrote: | The core thesis is "I believe principles should not stifle | progress". | | It turns out that people can have very different kind of | principles in mind. | | Some principles are primarily ethical, such as "Make our product | work for people with disabilities, because it's the right thing | to do". | | Some principles are primarily legal, such as "Encrypt data at | rest and in motion, because we don't want compliance problems". | | Some principles are primarily practical, such as "Bias for | action: if you're 80% sure, and you decision is easy to reverse, | then proceed." | happytiger wrote: | In software engineering, "principles" constitute a delicate and | evolving synthesis of theoretical constructs and empirical | lessons. | | They transcend the mere aftermath of triumphs, as posited by the | author, to encapsulate the intricate tapestry woven by _both_ | successes and failures. | | The author posits that principles are the byproduct of success, | but that's simply not the whole truth. | | The author's dichotomy between principles and experimentation | oversimplifies the complex interplay between these elements. | | Principles, far from being dichotomous with experimentation, | represent not only "prescriptive guidelines for successful | implementation" but also incorporate the sagacious counsel and | bitter emotional lessons distilled from the long and enormous | crucible of software project failures. | | In my experience managing and coding software engineering | projects, this kind of fidelity to principles becomes a | multidimensional pursuit, where the so-called "failure | principles" bear just as much gravitas as their counterparts | learned from success. | | > This is also why it's important for the makers of policies and | standards to be connected with the real-time experimentation in a | market, and not in silo, to constantly adapt, iterate, and refine | standards and principles according to real-world outcomes. | | This lesson is profoundly true, and encompassed in lean | experimentation and their ilk, and while it's important not to | rely on principles to guide product as effectively it becomes | _tradition_ guiding product, it is not translatable as the author | presents it as such a causative thing as "principles for | implementation guidance" and not losing "experimentation for | innovation and market sensitivity" are generally separate | phenomenon and ideas and much, much more nuanced that this simple | prescription, and in that effort it's incredibly important to pay | attention to "principles" in order to mitigate the not so | insignificant risk of catastrophic failure. | | Let me illustrate with some examples: | | - Those who chase two rabbits catch neither (can hardly be seen | as a product of successful hunting). | | - Keep it simple stupid is sage advice. | | - Do not repeat yourself. | | - When in doubt, communicate. | | - Keep it encrypted. | | There are the "failure principles" and they are so, SO important | in software and I think the author is ignoring them in this | thesis, though they do have some relevant points. | | While the author's thesis introduces pertinent considerations we | should all be thinking about, a discerning examination of both | failure and success is imperative, and avoiding conflating lean | and innovation and customer 'considerate' development with being | merely the products of the application of lessons of positive | principles (or not) that therefore must "constantly adapt, | iterate, and refine standards and principles" is overly | simplistic. | | I need to drink less coffee. | marcosdumay wrote: | Well, if the phrase on the title is true for you, you are working | with some really unprincipled principles. | | They shouldn't. Principles are something that guides practice. | Like the principles of aerodynamics guided the evolution of the | airplane even if they weren't fully known at the time. (And this | example on the article is just wrong.) | | If you use the same word for something that is derived from | practice (like best practices, on the HTML example), you will | lack one for the really fundamental stuff. | realusername wrote: | I'm not sure why you picked physics as an example which | probably is the single field where the most principles were | developed from mimicking practice and observation, aerodynamics | included. | ajb wrote: | I think it's more of a loop. Principles guide practice, but | practice may cause you to discover that your principles were | mistaken of limited. Eg, the discovery of quantum effects. | | A more worked-through explanation of this can be found by | reading up on "reflective equilibrium" | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_equilibrium | galaxyLogic wrote: | I would say, and do say, that Principles are Rules of Thumb | withinboredom wrote: | If you've ever had to live through some shit, principles are | born as a way to stay alive when shit hits the fan. They aren't | simple rules of thumb for the people who live them. | adfgioninio wrote: | It is a _moral_ principle that websites should mostly use HTML. | This is not because it 's the easiest way to build websites and | certainly not because it's the best way to make lots of money. | It's because it ensures everyone can use the same web and gives | the user agent as much power as possible to act on the user's | behalf. | gemstones wrote: | Not according to my morals! ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-11-13 23:00 UTC)