“Don’t leave broken windows”. The first time I read this phrase, in the seminal book The Pragmatic Programmer, was probably the most important ah...
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So, not to be an asshole, but the broken window theory of policing is a very contentious topic that takes a large share of the blame for the large rifts between poor communities and the police that patrol them. PBS did a light handed discussion of the topic here.
It's largely irrelevant to the point you're making here but evoking it without any mention of the controversy surrounding it is somewhat tone-deaf in a time where police-community relations are being heavily debated. You might want to add a disclaimer that the legitimacy of the theory as a policing tool is secondary to how applicable the idea is in coding, or something like that.
Apologies for mentioning what it seems to be a controversial topic, I have removed the reference in the article, as I don't have any context on what you actually describe. This is an article about software development, and my last intention was generating any other kind of discussion.
Again, sorry for this.
It's a hot-button topic in US politics. I didn't see the mention prior to your removal, but I'm sure you meant all the best, Raúl. Thanks for being a compassionate member of the community, and great codet ideas, as always.
Thanks Ben, I had absolutely no idea. It was just a mention to the existence of the broken window theory of policing. Do you think the title of the post and the mention to the broken windows problem is still appropriate?
I'm not the arbiter of sensibility, but I think it's all good. I think it's a metaphor that was, sadly, applied to racist policing tactics. But it's a pretty generic metaphor. I'm not sure, though, and I welcome further commentary on the subject.
There are certain programming terms I avoid and think other should because of their insensitive nature, like the "master/slave" concept. "Follower" seems like a better word to me, anyway.
Sometimes attempts to ensure sensitivity can be fairly Americentric in nature. Programming, and the fact that it's almost universally conducted in English, already has problems with colonial tendencies.
It's complicated.
Raul, great article. And really, no need to apologize about using the "broken windows" metaphor. By now you may or may not have read the original article, which sheds a lot of light on the theory in practice.
The "contentious issue" that one of the readers below mentions is, in fact, due to a complete misunderstanding of the study and flawed implementation. It's almost identical to what's happened to "agile" - an attempt to make an enforceable process out of something that requires a deep connection with the environment you're trying to influence.