Hacker News Reader

>In quite a few cases non-trivial code doubles as filter for less skilled devs

Right, until the less skilled dev it's you, months later after you moved on to other stuff, and have to get back and fix some clever shit you wrote but don't understand anymore.

Unless you're doing numeric or performance critical work, code should be optimized for readability and maintainability.

View on HN

If this example is too "clever" for someone, even sight unseen, they aren't (yet?) cut out to be a kernel hacker. I don't disagree with your general principle, but the linked example is idiomatic and understandable C for someone with a decent knowledge of the language, which is (I'd imagine/hope) the standard expected of contributors to Linux.

Actually I believe this particular example is basic and pretty understandable C.

I was talking about the more broad idea of knowingly writing clever code to raise the entry barrier for new devs. Or just writing clever code for whatever the reason. It's almost guaranteed to backfire, to new devs who will have to maintain it or to yourself, when you will have to read it in a less smart moment.

Entirely agreed.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com