I received two interesting pieces of advice at the AMP Lab retreat this past week, which concisely state some of my favorite software engineering principles:
- Don't be a zealot. Understand in technical detail why a given language, framework, or design should be preferred, not because of technological fascination or fanboy-ism. The canonical examples here are programming language flamewars, e.g. Java vs. C++.
- Ruthlessly optimize for your requirements. This means first, carefully defining said requirements, but then being completely unafraid to buck conventional wisdom if it's not a good match. This often means intentionally pruning out features, even common ones implemented by other systems.
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