What can you expect to see...

It's about style

• form, not content
• in art, the form is the content
• an ugly code limps:
  crash-prone, difficult to understand, maintain, debug
• Microsoft: epitomizes crass materialism

This presentation

• complements the paper but does not repeat it
• shows some bad code and talks about why it's bad
• shows off a better code (with explanations)
• peddles some obscure yet powerful, efficient and safe techniques and patterns

This talk is not the same as the paper: it is centered only around few main points. Also, many code fragments are actually different in here.

I'll be talking about programming style, that is, a form of a code rather than its content. For one thing, programming is an art, and in art, the form is the content. Also, there is an utilitarian, mundane element to striving for a beautiful code: I remember reading an aviator saying that an ugly plane won't fly. The same could probably be said about a boat, a car, a computer, and a program.
Apple understood that distinction very early: just compare the first Mac with the first IBM PC.

Computer code is not as apparent as a computer's case, but still, the code has its style, shape, and has its spirit. Well, some code doesn't have any spirit. Unfortunately, in this world's rat race we're all in (at least, myself), a shape, idea, and design are often sacrificed for an immediate gain. No other company epitomizes this style of programming (and its worldly success) as Microsoft.

Next