The Codeless Code: Case 230 All Together Now
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The Hungry Worm Clan was building a website for a craftsman
who made custom farming tools. Young master Zjing was
reviewing the code of their three developers.
“I do not understand the purpose of the LatestSellByDate
property in your shopping cart’s PurchaseItem,” she said to
the three. “Shovels and rakes do not expire.”
“That property was requested by the Red Pebble Clan,”
replied the first monk. “They are building a system for
managing a merchant’s cherry farms, and they plan to use our
order-placement service instead of building their own.”
“What?” asked Zjing in disbelief. “Who suggested that?”
“You did,” said the second monk. “For did you not tell two
of our clans that the reuse of services was superior to the
copying and pasting of code?”
“Yes, but the business needs of your two clans are
completely different!” cried Zjing. “Eventually, the cherry
purchasers may need options for crate size, refrigerated
shipping, and insurance against pests. All of these could
have their own rules and calculations!”
“You are worrying about a future that may never come to
pass,” countered the third monk. “And even if it does, so
what? The more features we implement, the greater the chance
that we can support our other clients.”
“Other clients?” asked Zjing.
“Two other Tiny Clans have expressed interest in our
services,” said the first monk.
“For unicycle parts and novelty wedding costumes,” said the
second monk.
“And I have begun designing a plug-in mechanism to handle
unforeseen cases,” said the third monk. “In the end the
Temple will save much development time overall.”
Later that week Zjing called a meeting of the Tiny Clans
under her tutelage. Dozens of monks and nuns crowded into
the dim, stuffy, windowless Hall of Irresistable Somnolence
where long presentations were given.*
Most of the benches had already been taken up by unfamiliar
villagers—employees, explained Zjing, of the novelty wedding
costume shop, who were there to ensure that their
requirements would be met. The meeting then began with an
extraordinarily dull presentation about tailoring, during
which many of the monks and nuns could be seen nodding off.
After the final slide the villagers were excused. When the
last of them had gone, Zjing brought forth a lantern from
behind the podium, and without a word she set the huge rice
paper projection screen on fire. Flames climbed swiftly and
spread across the dry ceiling timbers; heat seared the air;
smoke billowed forth; monks coughed or cried out; the fire
alarm clanged; then somewhere overhead the sprinkers came to
life and began gushing water ineffectively on the scene of
pandemonium below. It was only then—as the occupants rose to
flee in four different directions to the four exit
doors—that they discovered that their robes had been swiftly
and skillfully sewn to the robes of their neighbors.
* Usually these were mandated by the HR department, and
included yearly refresher courses like: “First Aid For
Accidental Injuries”, “First Aid For Intentional Injuries”,
“How to Choose a Comprehensive Life Insurance Plan”, and
“The Importance of Good Workplace Morale.”
