42 is a great school, except for 1 thing: the super-strict norm. I can understand to put a norm in piscine and simple projects, but keeping it in more advanced stuff (like graphic projects) have the only effect to make the code supercomplicated and un-readable, obtaing the opposite effect of what it's made for. Can you imagine to write a math algorithm operating in complex numbers with only 5 variables and 25 lines function? I just made the fractal project and I had to give up great ideas (eg. 3d implementation, buddhabrot fractal) just to respect that silly norm. As example, I had to split a super simple function in 2 structures and 4 other functions just to remove 1 variable and 3 rows of code. I thinks it's the biggest bug in 42 school (the other one is people copy-pasting codes from others repositories).
While coding guidelines and norms might not universally mandate a strict limit of 25 lines per function, the principle of keeping functions short and focused is widely encouraged in software development. The 25 lines are indeed arbitrary and encourage code that is readable, maintainable, and simple - three qualities which are essential in a peer-learning environment. All common core projects can be completed with this norm. Once students reach the advanced track, projects become larger, more complex, but also language agnostic and often without an imposed norm. However, we still encourage students to use best practices throughout the whole curriculum no matter the language used. Regarding plagiarism, it goes against our academic code of conduct and we hope students who do so realise they are not benefiting from it.
