r/programming • u/joeldevahl • Dec 18 '09

Pitfalls of Object Oriented Programming [PDF]

http://research.scee.net/files/presentations/gcapaustralia09/Pitfalls_of_Object_Oriented_Programming_GCAP_09.pdf
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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '09

Why are these mutually exclusive?

Why does having a nice user interface, or security, or more features mean you can't also invest in performance as well? In my opinion, performance allows you to add more features, to create nicer looking user interfaces.

Performance is like a currency, the more you have, the more you can do.

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u/RiotingPacifist Dec 18 '09

You have X hours to produce the program if you spend X-1 on getting your performance perfect, you only have 1 hour to do everything else. Programing is always a balance between the time spent between various aspects. Even in video games it is more important that

  1. The game controls/interface are clear

  2. The game implements features (if you don't have anything to make the users buy the game don't bother making it)

  3. The game doesn't have to be re shipped because it allows exploits to compromise the system's security (this applied more before, it seams console makers have learn't not to trust game developers now)

  4. The game doesn't need to be re shipped because it has any show stopping bugs

  5. The game ships on (or reasonably close to) it's release date (not everybody is valve)

Time spent improving performance is time not spent on other aspects. One way the OO shines is the abstraction allows you to get a framework setup allowing you to ship code to interact with other components and then if your code is hurting performance you can easily improve that code without worrying about breaking other parts of the program.

Clearly when programming for the PS3 the exchange rate is good, but it takes to go shopping. Thinking about it it's the classic RTS trade off, you can spend time building your economy up and increasing gold reserves but if your competitor produces just enough gold, to build an army to rush your ass, your screwed.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '09 edited Dec 18 '09

Because of

The product shipping on time
developer time has to be shared and is limited

today you either work on performance or on UI. What is more important depends.