In between statements like "who don't men ask for directions" and "why are women always right (in their mind)?", there's a new kid on the block: do women write better, more understandable code, than men?
Emma McGrattan, female programmer, seems to think so.
Emma McGrattan, the senior vice-president of engineering for computer-database company Ingres–and one of Silicon Valley’s highest-ranking female programmers–insists that men and women write code differently. Women are more touchy-feely and considerate of those who will use the code later, she says. They’ll intersperse their code–those strings of instructions that result in nifty applications and programs–with helpful comments and directions, explaining why they wrote the lines the way they did and exactly how they did it. (source)
She goes on explaining that men will try to write complicated code, to show off their intelligence, while women will document more, so others working on the code after them -- would find it easier to get started.
Why do men write complicated code? Sure we like to brag, but don't we all? I'm guessing we write more cryptic code, because we believe it to be more efficient, saving us 0.000001ms in compiling and executing time.
Does anyone have examples of "typical code" written by a male or female? Standard, daily scenes that are programmed -- i'd be more than happy to read the differences :-)
As a software professional for 9 years, this has been my observation:
Neat code is irrespective of men or women writing the code. I have had men team members who wrote neat understandable code.
However women I have noticed have been more thorough with testing completing (not hastily) and writing better documents.
I am a female programmer. I do not especially enjoy writing documentation, although I have been complimented for doing it well. I do, however, LOVE to put generous code comments all over the place. This next part almost makes me blush, because at the time that I originally said this, I wasn’t imagining some debate over a “battle of the sexes” in code writing, but I used to say quite often that “code comments are the love letter that you write to your code.” Cheesy, huh? Too girly for anyone?
As a male programmer I like to put in comments as well (if only so I can understand my own code, when I need to change things a few months later). I especially like to add jokes in them (“knock knock”, “yo momma is so …”). It can get boring looking at code for hours on end, especially if it’s not your own code, so I like to think of it as a way to “entertain” whoever needs to adjust my code. Wouldn’t quite call it loveletters yet though :P
Being a team leader to a bunch of programmers, I will definitely agree that female coders comment better. They also seem a little more precise with their unit testing. However, be it a benefit or a curse, my male programmers tend to finish a lot sooner and more often on time.