How do you tell someone they're writing bad code? [closed]

Answer 1

Start a wiki on your network using some wiki software.

Start a category on your site called "best practices" or "coding standards" or something.

Point everyone to it. Allow for feedback.

When you do releases of the software, have the person whose job it is to put code into the build push back on developers, pointing them to the Wiki pages on it.

I've done this in my organization and it took several months for people to really get into the hang of using the Wiki but now it's this indispensable resource.

Answer 2

Have the person(s) in question prepare a presentation to the rest of the group on the code for a representative module they have written, and let the Q&A take care of it (trust me, it will, and if it's a good group, it shouldn't even get ugly).

Answer 3

Introduce the idea of a code standard. The most important thing about a code standard is that it proposes the idea of consistency in the code base (ideally, all of the code should look like it was written by one person in one sitting) which will lead to more understandable and maintainable code.

Answer 4

Nobody likes to listen someone saying their work sucks, but any sane person would welcome mentoring and ways of avoiding unnecessary work.

One school of teaching even says that you should not point out mistakes, but focus what is done right. For instance, instead of pointing out incomprehensible code as bad, you should point out where their code is particularly easy to read. In the first case you are priming others to think and act like crappy programmers. In the later case you are priming for thinking like a skilled professional.

Answer 5

Probably a bit late after the effect, but that's where an agreed coding standard is a good thing.

Answer 6

Introduce questions to make them realise that what they are doing is wrong. For example, ask these sort of questions:

Why did you decide to make that a global variable?

Why did you give it that name?

That's interesting. I usually do mine this way because [Insert reason why you are better]

Does that way work? I usually [Insert how you would make them look silly]

I think the ideal way of going about this is subtly asking them why they code a certain way. You may find that they believe that there are benefits to other methods. Unless I knew the reason for their coding style was due to misinformation I would never judge my way as better without good reason. The best way to go about this is to just ask them why they chose that way; be sure to sound interested in their reasoning, because that is what you need to attack, not their ability.

A coding standard will definitely help, but if it were the answer to every software project then we'd all be sipping cocktails on our private islands in paradise. In reality, we're all prone to problems and software projects still have a low success rate. I think the problem would mostly stem from individual ability rather than a problem with convention, which is why I'd suggest working through the problems as a group when a problem rears its ugly head.

Most importantly, do NOT immediately assume that your way is better. In reality, it probably is, but we're dealing with another person's opinion and to them there is only one solution. Never say that your way is the better way of doing it unless you want them to see you as a smug loser.