The challenge of making programming code more social

2 min reading
21 April 2016
The challenge of making programming code more social
The challenge of making programming code more social

BBVA API Market

You have made 264 contributions to GitHub in one year. Why do you think this type of platform is important?

GitHub has helped code become more social. For example, you are able to find out that I have made 264 contributions to public projects in that platform. Before, you couldn’t know this. And if you look into these contributions, you will realize that they are not that major but I hope that they will help to create something better. This would be impossible without GitHub or other similar platforms such as BitBucket, GitLab, etc.

How can you help other developers with this type of contribution?

I don’t think it only helps other developers. You help yourself since you are improving something you already use. You help others by letting them know how a specific problem was solved. For instance, you may have found an error in a piece of medical software which may save lives… We must not forget that code underlies more and more things every day.

Also, GitHub and other platforms are no longer restricted to code. There are people writing books, uploading science tutorials, making it possible for science to be reproduced (for example, http://mybinder.org/), etc.

What are the differences between Ruby, PHP and Python tools?

In the end, it’s not about the tool; it’s about solving problems. All programming languages have their own strengths and weaknesses, their own detractors and promoters. In my case, I don’t have a lot of time. I don’t know much about Ruby and I only know a little bit about PHP but I know a lot about Python. Unless Python is not the right choice, I try to use it because I know it and I need to solve a problem and fulfill a request from my bosses in a limited time frame.

How do you think Python has helped to improve development over the years?

Development is a universe in and of itself and Python is a planet in a galaxy among thousands of other galaxies with their own groups of planets. Personally, I find Python more pleasant to read and since I read code more often than I write it, that’s a very important factor. Other people may find it unpleasant and, for that reason, there are so many general-purpose or specific programming languages.

Why is Python based on legibility and transparency?

Programming is written by people and I think people find it easier to read this:

a = 1 if b > 2 else 0

than this:

b > 2 ? a = 1: a = 0

This is my personal opinion and maybe I’m a bit weird because I prefer the former to the latter.

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