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johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code

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A discussion between John Ousterhout and Robert Martin about differences between John's book "A Philosophy of Software Design" and Bob's book "Clean Code".

25 mentions on Hacker News by 20 people: 12 stories, 13 comments · first 2025-02-23 · latest 2026-09-16

Mentions per year 25 mentions · busiest year 2025 (18)
20082026
  1. …should be shorter than that." Now emphasizing the benefits of longer functions is pretty trendy. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code This industry is pretty idiotic sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    comment by richardbarosky · 2026-09-16 · in This Code Is CRAP (2011)
  2. For some actual code and comparison of principles behind Clean Code see: https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
  3. …the text on it arrived at the correct conclusion using a bad implementation/set of standards. c.f., https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code and instead of cleaning your code, design it: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3…
    comment by WillAdams · 2026-04-09 · in Clean code in the age of coding agents
  4. …software engineering between John Ousterhout (of whom I'm a big fan) and Robert Martin[0][1]. [0] https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code [1] https://youtu.be/3Vlk6hCWBw0
    comment by bch · 2026-03-13 · in The Cost of Indirection in Rust
  5. ▲ 5
    Clean Code vs. a Philosophy of Software Design
    story by birdculture · 2026-01-06 · 1 comment
  6. For an example of what happens when he runs into a real programmer see: https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code _A Philosophy of Software Design_ is an amazing and under-rated book: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39996…
    comment by WillAdams · 2026-01-04 · in Maybe comments should explain 'what' (2017)
  7. ▲ 1
    A Philosophy of Software Design vs. Clean Code
    story by st3v3nmw · 2026-01-01 · 0 comments
  8. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code is a great find from that list. Thanks!
  9. …be a better place if _Philosophy of Software Design_ would replace all mentions of the second book. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
  10. …gave him every opportunity to think critically about his own suggestions and he just doubles down. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code/blob/m... He's just trolling us at this point.
  11. …John and Uncle Bob on their differences in style recently[1], with a related HN discussion[2]. [1] https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code/blob/m... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43166362
    comment by ad_hockey · 2025-11-28 · in Tiger Style: Coding philosophy (2024)
  12. …of the doubt and discuss the tradeoffs and Bob just dug in on his bizarre dogmatic approaches. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code/blob/m...
  13. ▲ 1
    A Philosophy of Software Design vs. Clean Code (2024)
    story by eden-u4 · 2025-11-13 · 0 comments
  14. ▲ 2
    A Philosophy of Software Design vs. Clean Code
    story by piqufoh · 2025-11-05 · 0 comments
  15. ▲ 1
    Aposd-vs-clean-code: A discussion between John Ousterhout and Robert Martin
    story by Bogdanp · 2025-09-22 · 0 comments
  16. ▲ 3
    A Philosophy of Software Design vs. Clean Code
    story by akbarnama · 2025-08-31 · 1 comment
  17. …with a similar approach. There is also a discussion between the author of Clean Code and APOSD: https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
    comment by dsego · 2025-08-30 · in Cognitive load is what matters
  18. ▲ 2
    John Ousterhout and "Uncle Bob" Martin Discussion
    story by signa11 · 2025-04-08 · 0 comments
  19. https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
  20. …what makes Clean Code so off-putting, especially if you have slightly different preferences. [0] - https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code/blob/m...
    comment by notarobot123 · 2025-03-07 · in Ask HN: Is Clean Code a waste of time?
  21. ▲ 488
    Clean Code vs. A Philosophy Of Software Design
    story by recursivedoubts · 2025-02-24 · 542 comments
  22. ▲ 14
    John Ousterhout and Uncle Bob discuss John's disagreements with Clean Code
    story by discreteevent · 2025-02-24 · 2 comments
  23. ▲ 3
    Discussion about Differences in "A Philosophy of Software Design", "Clean Code"
    story by thunderbong · 2025-02-24 · 0 comments
  24. ▲ 4
    "A Philosophy of Software Design" vs. "Clean Code"
    story by matt_d · 2025-02-23 · 0 comments
  25. ▲ 5
    A philosophy of Software design vs. Clean Code
    story by philosopher1234 · 2025-02-23 · 1 comment