[commandlinefan]

> It's really silly to have wars around programming paradigms. There are only a few principles

Well, you say we're having wars around the programming paradigms, I say we're having "spirited debate" around the principles :). I've been working mostly in Java for the past 20 years or so, and I can't help but observe that most people, when they try to put together a Java application, default to a sort of design that looks an awful lot like old Cobol programs did: they have a "datatype" generator (usually automated from XML schemas) and a slew of "utility" classes with mostly static functions that have mostly static data that operate on these datatypes, and as little class instantiation as they can possibly get away with. I've seen this same basic architecture repeated many times across four different employers in two decades. It's always a lurching, monolithic, untestable behemoth that never works reliably and resists any attempt to change. In talking with the original designers, it's clear that there were no principles behind the design besides "it still doesn't work, how do I get this thing to work". If there were clear and adhered to principles like automated testability, you'd end up naturally with an OO (or even better, FP) type design.

[mypalmike]

Interesting. I guess I've been more fortunate. Most of the Java code I've worked with has involved reasonably well thought out classes. For me that mostly means I can read and understand parts of the codebase in isolation. There are usually a few piles of sometimes ugly utility classes and the occasional mess of deeply nested inheritance that nobody wants to touch. When the latter becomes painful enough, someone usually decides to refactor it, which is often not as hard to do as everyone fears.

It seems to be improving in the last 5-10 years, as most practitioners have found that both of these eyesores can be reduced. DI (sometimes messy itself, but it can be done cleanly) tends to make people rethink those utility classes, and shallow inheritance is now favored, with a focus more on interfaces and composition.