My first computer

Daily writing prompt
Write about your first computer.

AMD K5/90, 8MB RAM, 1.08GB HDD, 1.44″ FDD, 14″ PW DISPLAY. $460, August 1997.

It smelled like ozone. I can close my eyes and smell it. The screen was black, the case was big and white. It had no games and no connection to the Internet. I had to install software with the floppy until I purchased a printer port cable to connect to my neighbor through LTP1. It cost a fortune – 2 years of savings and summer jobs plus anything my parents, brother, and grandmother could give.

That smell… it smelled like the future.

A measure for good code

Today we discussed with a colleague what is good code and what isn’t. We somewhat agreed that good code is code that can be understood and changed by people who aren’t the author. Hours later, I found this quote in the book I’m reading and wanted to share it:

The true test of good code is how easy it is to change it.

Martin Fowler, Refactoring

There’s code people understand, change, and create a mess. There’s code people understand, change, and don’t create a mess. There’s code people don’t understand and don’t change. It stays perfect until somebody decides to start over and create a two-headed Hydra because they see no other way.