johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
View on GitHub ↗ ★ 1,981
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
20082026
-
…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) -
For some actual code and comparison of principles behind Clean Code see: https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
comment by WillAdams · 2026-07-01 · in Solid and Clean Code never felt solid or clean to me -
…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 -
…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 -
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) -
https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code is a great find from that list. Thanks!
comment by ruraljuror · 2025-12-21 · in Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025 -
…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
comment by WillAdams · 2025-12-21 · in Show HN: Books mentioned on Hacker News in 2025 -
…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.
comment by nickm12 · 2025-12-03 · in Is this code clean? A critical look at Clean Code 2nd Edition -
…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) -
…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...
comment by nickm12 · 2025-11-19 · in Don't Refactor Like Uncle Bob (Second Edition) -
…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 -
https://github.com/johnousterhout/aposd-vs-clean-code
comment by dsego · 2025-03-11 · in What makes code hard to read: Visual patterns of complexity (2023) -
…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?