Several monks of the Laughing Monkey Clan found their
brother in a state of great anguish, typing frantically at
his workstation.
“What vexes you so?” they asked.
Said the monk: “When new business rules are delivered next
year, my code will need to be updated. Today the abbot told
me who will be assigned this task, and my heart sank. He is
an impatient fool who scorns documentation and breezes by
comments, electing instead to guess the purpose of
everything by name alone. Thus I must idiot-proof every
class and method.”
The monk pointed to his screen. “Here he will be tempted to
modify this object’s properties, so I must make it immutable
to prevent disaster. Here he will surely mistake the purpose
of this parameter, so now I must check for an illegal
argument wherever it is used.” The monk collapsed upon his
keyboard. “Ten thousand curses upon that imbecile,
Taw-Jieh!” he wailed. “That he of all people should be
chosen to maintain my code!”
The other monks looked at each other uncomfortably.
