Overcoming Software Bloat
Most developers these days take pride in not having to reinvent the wheel each time they write a new piece of code. This is all about optimization and code reuse. Yet it is a double edged sword. As code is built and libraries grow there is always the threat of code bloat taking effect. This is when the task at hand has more code than is required. A simple program to perform a simple instruction becomes possibly kilobytes larger than it needs to be as it only makes use of the a fraction of the its core libraries. This too is why you see such massive requirements by operating systems for memory to perform the simplest of tasks.
From this it should not be forgotten that optimization should always be part of the programmers ethos. We may love to reuse lots of code to avoid losing precious development hours but there comes a time when code review and stringent guidelines may help in the long run. For instance we all used to love doing in line SQL back in the day of ASP as it was quick and easy. Then along came the big bad era of SQL injection attacks. Lots of people suffered. However this threat had long been present in the framework since it came out and was widely know too. It was only when the bored script kiddies decided to take advantage of developers laziness that the damage was done. If some care could be taken by developers when they are starting out and allowed the time to take such care there would be more efficient software applications in the world and far less blue screens and dead websites. A little time now prevents a major headache later when a bored teenager finds your out dated ASP. Then you’d wish you too the extra 10 minutes to write stored procedures.
