All Code is Spaghetti …
I am sure most of you programmers may have experienced this: look at some code, get totally lost, curse that evil son-of-a-bitch who wrote that code, and then realize that it was something you wrote months or years ago. At that point, the narcissist among you may start to admire its beauty and elegance and brevity and style, but the more normal types may start to wonder “Should I move to another line of work?” To help you quell that inner voice, I offer my highly original 27th Rule of Software Development: All code is spaghetti, it just doesn’t taste very good when cooked by another programmer; if you cooked it, it doesn’t stay fresh for very long.
Here is a good application of the rule: when you look at sample code that alpha-geeks present with flourish, especially on internet forums where they fondly hope, against all statistical evidence, that some pretty women may be, just may be, lurking. Often the proud author would present his sample as the ultimate in brevity and style, except that you can’t make head or tail of it at first. Some of us can’t make head or tail of even at last, but that is another story.
My 27th Rule is designed to help you when faced with that situation. Armed with this rule, you can conclude with confidence that the code is the very reincarnation of the Flying Sphagetti Monster, whose ways are mysterious and strange, undecipherable to mere mortals.