Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [cowboy-coding]

9 questions
104
votes
10 answers

What should I do when I've already waited too long between commits?

I was naughty... Too much "cowboy coding," not enough committing. Now, here I am with an enormous commit. Yes, I should have been committing all along, but it's too late now. What is better? Do one very large commit listing all the things I…
durron597
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76
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25 answers

Frankly, do you prefer Cowboy coding?

Most programmers defending methodologies politically correct like Agile, Waterfall, RUP, etc. Some of them follow the methodology but not all of them. Frankly, if you can choose the methodology, you certainly would go to mainstream "correct"…
Maniero
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73
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16 answers

Is the agile approach too much of a convenient excuse for cowboys

I believe that an agile approach is best for projects where the requirements are fuzzy and a lot of interaction is required to help shape the end user's ideas. However... In my professional work, I keep ending up at companies where an "agile"…
sipsorcery
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68
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15 answers

How can I convince cowboy programmers to use source control?

I work on a small team of devs, 4 guys. They have all used source control. Most of them can't stand source control and instead choose not to use it. I strongly believe source control is a necessary part of professional development. Several issues…
P.Brian.Mackey
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39
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5 answers

How do you disarm a cowboy coder?

I found a question (code cowboy on the team), but it was more related to "Ninja Coder" then the problem that I have. I have a team member who is a pure living example of "Cowboy Coder". I do understand that one can't change people, but is a way to…
Adronius
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24
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12 answers

Are long functions acceptable if they have internal structure?

When dealing with complicated algorithms in languages with support for nested functions (such as Python and D) I often write huge functions (because the algorithm is complicated) but mitigate this by using nested functions to structure the…
dsimcha
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0 answers

Is cowboy programming a senior approach?

Possible Duplicate: Frankly, do you prefer Cowboy coding? By cowboy programming, I mean a programmer just typing the code very fast without a semi-formal process. I have a programmer that codes fast by dismissing revision control, documentation,…
Armando
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5
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5 answers

Questions about TDD and unit testing

I am a junior software developer and I have been researching some of the practices in the industry to make myself better. I have been looking at unit testing briefly and I cannot see how the extra time writing a ton of unit tests is going to make my…
Stuart Blackler
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5
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3 answers

Is there a resource that explains the benefits of layered programming?

Let's say we have a winform application with a buttonclick event. The buttonclick handles everything from the UI configuration to the database call and data manipulation. So you end up with a method that is 100's of lines of code long. Outside…
P.Brian.Mackey
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