Stop Trying To Write "Perfect" Code 

To try everything Brilliant has to offer-free-for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/TheCodingSloth . You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. The books I mentioned are in the description as well as my newsletter. But you better stop trying to write perfect code or else the tickle monster will get you

I wanted to do a project, but ended up agonizing too much over how to make everything clean and yet reusable that I never even got started properly.

I actually gave a lot of thought about that topic today since I'm currently guilty about this. The problem with trying to always maintain that high standard is that you're gonna always write flawed code since you don't know everything and you end up slowing yourself down and potentially your team, and this also induces a lot of pressure and anxiety on yourself too. If you turn out be entangled in that curse, IMO the remedy is that you have to LEARN to be okay with the fact that the code you wrote is not written in the best possible way and leave any unnecessary premature optimization loophole, yet still good enough in order for you to continue to move on towards what you / your team is building.

5:47 This is the most beautiful function I have ever seen! Peak software engineering.

I am just starting my coding “lifestyle” this year, starting school in the fall, and you have been such an influence!!! Love the videos

You can definitely end the video just 2 seconds in. Perfect code does suck. It’s a unicorn

Oh man, I got all 3 types of perfectionism and it really sucks me dry. Going from burnout to burnout.

This is my answer to my problem lol. Currently stuck on a project trying to get a clean code. I am a beginner, Thank you for this!

Super awesome video, very enlightening, subscribed!

Actually good artists have a super power of embracing their mistakes/Imperfections. Coders also need this (for personal project only).

I love this video, thank you. I'm just starting my programming journey :)

i started coding yesterday

Brother i found you bcoz of random() of youtube algorithm anyway your way of explanation was to the point and needed in today's era of programming, thanks a lot cheers

Thanks this actually helps a lot and reinforces the idea that I should be going with the project I started, working on it actually makes me really anxious because I am scared I'll not figure out something

Thank you sloth.. I was over optimising my code for literally no reason.. now I feel kinda stupid.. Thanks for the timely video! Saved me a lot of time n effort.. Subscription added!

Just the video I needed.

A very good video sloth, keep it up!

Whoa, what a cool montage style 😎 Ty for the video, hope u have a good day

Thank you for this sloth

This is the best video for me right now, since yes I want everything to be perfect, now I realized I am being too hard on myself, and even my friends in programming, I keep nagging them about it. Now I feel sorry, well thank you for releasing the video.

thanks so much

And this my friends is why i only code on a per project basis, otherwise i would physically destroy myself with my own unrelenting imposter syndrome

I go through tutorial after tutorial and feels like my code sucks even the moment I type it. I haven't wrote a single functional app that I can call "my own" for months. I also chase the "best language" so my knowledge is shallow in multiple languages instead of deep in 1-2. Thank you for this, I'll read the pragmatic programmer AND apply it.

Nice video Thanks for the video

This is so timely. I'm currently going through this, as I'm assigned to a project in work wherein it's the first project for my team that's supposed to pay more attention to optimization. The problem is I'm a junior dev who's too smooth brain. I guess I should dial it back a bit and not obsess over every line of code, especially given that this is my first project and my team probably doesn't expect me to nail it the first time. Thanks for the video.

Hi sloth hope yoy are doing OK. I from Colombia 🇨🇴 . And I really like your videos !!!!❤

Bro the spongebob intro took me back so hard I felt like a little kid in the safest space possible

5:22 "Premature ejacul... Premature optimization!"🤣🤣🤣

Great video

I've never felt so called out

I remember this guy’s video about being unemployed last year. I was too. I hope he’s found a job since then.

I would say overengineering is good for learning. Not in practice tho. From what Ive seen, the only thing that really matters is having an air tight coding standard and good docs.

Thanks for such Soo cool informations 💌💌💌

Clean Code is like 1000 pages, bro, respect

Teaching people how to use your code with minimal words usually (Hit enter) is how to do it. I write code mostly for video games like FreeRiderHD and KingdomofLoathing , I always have time to make new things.

You mention doing more project will make you a better developer, how long should you spend on a given project? Or does it depend on how big of a project you’re working on?

Liked,commented and already subbed❤

The thing about "optimization" is that it means different things to different people. This is because you can optimize for different things. For example: memory usage, code size, execution time, time complexity, size complexity, latency, throughput, etc. I feel like lots of people actually try to optimize for things that are impossible to quantify or measure like "clean code", or "good code", or "DX" etc. this can easily lead to burnout and negative feelings because you're just stumbling around. You learn early in performance optimization that if you don't start by measuring then you won't actually get anything done. You also learn that there are bad and good measurements. When optimizing for "good code", you really can't make any measurements. I also feel like all the measurements that we do have in the "good code" space, like Uncle Bob's Clean Code, are actually terrible measurements. I think they are like all the measurements that companies have for developer productivity which most developers know are complete bull shit.

1. What's the data I got to work with and how much of it must we ingest at any given time? 2. What are the problem space constraints I must obey? 3. What's the output I must produce given this data? 4. What's the performance constraints given certain data sizes? 5. How frustrated would someone else get from reading code that's high on performance, but low in comprehension speed and high in overall WTH score? 6. What's the minimum information about the domain that I need to understand about from stakeholders before I can actually solve the problem? 7. Can I draw a good enough picture about the problem and how it can be solved given all the constraints above? As long as I have this benchmarks in mind and check all those boxes, I can churn out reasonable code in record time without feeling the need to be "perfect".

another banger

If it worls it works

What's the tts voice you're using for books?

Please dude what editing software do you use ?

Moving fast to learn is one thing. Moving fast at work likely leads to technical debt, which will need to be refactored at some point

Yall not hearing him! Stay with him now 🗣️🔥🔥

Thank you very much for this video! Perfect code has been my downfall for so long. I’ve stopped 2 projects because of it. I’ve always had imperfect code which has always tormented me because I try my best to be the best except I’m just competing against myself. I’m not sure if that made sense but thank you anyways!

It's the same as writing a novel/short story. You have to edit after or you'll never finish the book, but if you do It'll still need editing.

Sorry, but I'm addicted to it like crack cocaine, so no.

I think this is really valuable advise but for inexperienced coders wanting to make big systems, hacking something together can quickly be a disaster. It's about understanding what perfections to add for the requirements of what you're making.

Yes

I don't know why we say "good code" and not "good enough code" cause at the end of the day that is what it's what matters

Hi, I have a question. I joined a coding school 6 months ago, and we have a lot of projects to complete. Some former students who have finished the projects have put them on git hub or made tutorials on medium. I see a lot of students in my class going 5x faster than me by copying the code projects we have to do and just learning how to reproduce them. But personally, I do the projects on my own then optimize to improve my problem-solving skills, architecture and build synapses related to coding but evolution takes time. Am I making a mistake in the way I learn to code? Should I be doing what they're doing?

there was one time when I wrote a comment on a post that has a meme about bad code from a programers group on Facebook, on the comment I was asking for help to how to fix the 6 variables i made to store 3 positions, everyone thought it was funny and the 15 years old me was so frustrated 😅

sloth does it get better

I only strive for a minimum of good enough,and if it ends up better,good for me

what if you write in assembly? because if you dont get your code right you get a segmentation fault.

Sooo good😂

Bro I created over 10-15 games, but still I think that I'm only able to write "hello world" and nothing else

6:00 But optimizing my for loop feels so good :(

Waiting for the primeagens take on this

guys i have a question, should I learn python or godot game development?

Tgis is like Bigbox SWE but 10 minute videos

Perfectionism is a sign of OCDP personality!

I find myself writing code that can be considered as "not clean" or "not perfect". But I don't really care to be honest, if it at least works for me then I'll be fine with it.

10/10 video, though living in my walls to obtain data for this very personal attack seems a bit much tbh.

Cant write perfect code when all ur code is terrible. Most of my code breaks with the slightest breeze. But I'm learning new skills, I do try to stay with the best practices but if my code works don't touch it. Since yt keeps deleting my comments my last project was a discord bot with chatgpt integration for a roleplaying server. Learned so much in the past 3 weeks of development.

This is the first time I see an angry sloth...

I've started rolling with the idea that "clean code" basically means it minimizes the amount of frustration it brings people.

I enjoy coding , and wanted to make a job out of it but with the AI stuff I just had quit , is this worth doing ? ( I don't mind doing it for free but it feels like it may end up being in vain)

I came for programming tips and I got life lessons. What’s next? I gotta shower?

The game undertale has a switch statement with over 1000 cases. Thats was something that showed me that often the most important thing is that it works... it doesnt matter how "bad" it's actually implemented.

It's better to be able to make somewhat "perfect" code (or at least understand what that means) and adapt it to your needs, than to ignore these concepts completely and not be able to apply them (overall, not in full). Good to read, get your own ideas and make productive, well-designed code. productive, well-designed code. Unfortunately, in my work, these books have probably never been read and I'm now in charge of an unmaintainable code base.

Oop is best

5:25 😆

Damn after i watch this video i feel that i put pressure on myself too much i learn too deep, overthinking and very high standard Bro you save my life, lifetime and my butt 🌚 (Really good vid)

My new job correspond need perfect code that make me burnout

I do not have this problem. I'm the personification of the "good enough" meme while coding.

The anxiety of making "perfect" code is the worst feeling that I had

I spent a whole year trying to build an application that never launched because I was fixated on optimizing every step of the user lifecycle. Eventually I ended up just redoing the entire thing and just literally cave man coded it. It ended up being far less stressful in the end.

I think our society needs a therapist type specifically for programmers...

Write good code Tell chatgpt to optimise it ~ *Wiseman*

Bro, did you know that in portuguese sloth means Lazy? Sorry for the randomness I was taking a shower and thought about this 🙂

My man, great video you got there, but recommending anything from Bob Martin makes me very uneasy

I will start coding from tomorrow

Bro😭...why i am too bad at even doing projects own my own....i have to see the code and then write then see and then do 😭... what to do...k have learn't everything know syntax but am idiot and can't to a single project😭

Dude. We are only trying to write simple code.

Now I be That guy.. 5:47.. recursion really 🤣.. lalalala.. return !(n%2);

ahh I feel so lucky, that I'm bad with coding, so I won't have perfectionism nice

Hi sloth

Sasa sloth uko aje unajua wewe ni manzee wangu

This is my problem in every area of life: if I don't do it _right,_ that's bad; if I don't do it _at all,_ that's neutral. Exacerbating matters is I don't feel joy, and can't be motivated to do anything for myself; I can't "push through" bulldozer perfectionism, because there's nothing to push with.

Instead of perfect, write maintainable code, everybody including yourself will thank you in unspecified amount of time in the future when the time will come to refactor that thing :)

Done > Elite

As a hobbyist concept artist, I don't know when to stop scribbling on a painting

Hi everyone I am new to programming in python so can anyone give me some project

code

Write shit code and move one. There’s no time to be perfect. I get it.

Holy F🐓👌🫘 you are calling me out ;-;

I try to start it efficient enough but as obvious as possible and then after it works, think if it could be done better. If it doesn't take way too much effort and time for what the possible improvement could be then doing it. Otherwise I better go do something else. And comments, of course. A little explanation can make seemingly obscure code obvious but I see too often fellow programners won't care writing those. Sad.

When face reveal