[smutticus]

I believe that the quality of the code you write only shows itself over time. Every other metric we use to measure quality is subservient to one simple truth. How does your code age?

How easy is your code to modify later when you need to add a new feature? I think that's the only measure of good code that I trust. I get a little proud of myself when I need to modify something I've written previously to add a new feature and it's relatively easy. So I look back at how I wrote it then and try to learn from it. The opposite is also true. If I need to modify my code to add something and it is truly painful then I know I did something wrong way back when. The same is true for bugs found. If every bug found requires massive code changes than I did a pretty piss poor job initially. But if most bug fixes only require a couple of lines than I did well.

This makes identifying good and bad practices especially difficult because it requires that you stick around for things to fall apart. This is one of the reasons that commercial software sucks so much and why consultants leave giant messes in their wake. The short-term priorities of business conflict with the long-term reality of determining software quality.

As a developer it's your obligation to learn from your past mistakes and better yourself.