Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

This entire article feels like blaming users for being confused by a confusing configuration language with unclear feedback.



This is a lot of software nowadays. Design something extremely confusing, write complicated docs, users scratch their heads hold it the wrong way, things blow up, blame the user for not understanding your mental model. When I write software, the mantra I have is that if a user is capable of going to a bad state using the interface I expose, it's a bug on my end. It doesn't change anything whether it's a silly mistake, gross misunderstanding of the API, literal illiteracy, confusion induced by alcohol poisoning... If a user uses your interface and encounters an issue, it's on you to prevent it and tell the user "doing X is not supported, don't do it" instead of either (1) segfaulting or (2) accepting it, leading to subtle bugs.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: