As someone who works in software…

  1. I cringe every time I see society bend to the limitations of the software they use. It shouldn’t be this way; the software should serve the user, not the other way around.
  2. I appreciate a well designed API. Much of my job is using APIs built by others, and the good ones always feel natural to use, like water flowing through a creek. Conversely, a badly designed API makes me want to throw may laptop to the ground.
  3. I think a well designed standard is just as important as a well designed API. Thus, if you’re extending the standard in a way that adds a bunch of exceptions to something that’s already there, you may want to reflect on your priorities and try an approach that doesn’t do that.
  4. I also try to appreciate, to varying levels of success, that there are multiple ways to do something and once all the hard and fast requirements are settled, it usually just comes down to taste. I know what appeals to my taste, but I also (try to) recognise that others have their own taste as well, and what appeals to them may not gel with me. And I just have to deal with it. I may not like it, but sometimes we have to deal with things we don’t like.
  5. I believe a user’s home directory is their space, not yours. And you better have a bloody good reason for adding stuff there that the user can see and didn’t ask for.