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Here's another dirty little secret: the main reason writing "clean" code takes significantly more time than writing "shitty" code is because you have to unlearn all the crappy practices you've picked up. And please don't conflate clean code with overengineering.

This is a good example of why many people don't consider "software engineering" a real discipline.

to be fair, he's actually a trained nurse.

Seems like a lot of justification for being sloppy

Yea I agree. It's not that much more effort to clean things up and it will save you time later.

Not sure why the author thinks writing clean code is some form of premature optimization.

Agreed, although other arguments could be made.

There's the key phrase

> I haven’t updated that app in years

Arguably, the most important place for clean code is everywhere, but the largest use-case for it is in projects that are expected to live, or in places that the code is seen / used by people who are not the original developer(s).

If your goal is to "ship it and forget it", great. Do whatever you need. Outsource it to some other country if it's cheaper, who cares? You're not going to be maintaining it anyway. Does this make something good? No. Is it excusable? Maybe.

Judicious Use of Shitty Code