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The post challenges popular programming myths, emphasizing that real-world software success often relies on practical experience, not strict adherence to theoretical best practices. The author argues that legacy technologies like PHP and Java remain relevant due to their reliability and stability, rather than being obsolete. It highlights the importance of solving problems efficiently rather than aiming for perfect code structure or chasing the latest tech trends.

Programming Myths We Desperately Need to Retire – amritpandey.io

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Programming Myths We Desperately Need to Retire

Programming Myths We Desperately Need to Retire

They’re not programming myths, let alone ideas that need to be retired.
“The tech world is not going to radically change. Ever.”
Of course it will. Tech has always evolved radically. Today looks nothing like 20–30 years ago, and that era was equally different from the one before it. It might be more constructive to avoid predictions that overlook how quickly our industry evolves.
“To be relevant, you need the latest.” / “You should aim for maximum intellectual perfection.”
These aren’t dominant beliefs in the tech world. These statements seem exaggerated caricatures of mainstream views, which may weaken the overall argument.
“Real-world code is messy!”
Sure, that’s true. But it shouldn’t be. Code often becomes messy when teams lack resources to apply sound engineering practices. That shouldn’t be our baseline. We shouldn’t use it to define what good code looks like.
“The best programmers are never pattern-obsessed monks”
That claim doesn’t reflect any recognized industry standpoint; it appears to be a straw-man position rather than one genuinely held by professionals.
“Thinking about tests more than actual code is sometimes a big hurdle in shipping code fast”. Yes, fast, and unfortunately messy if you forget about tests.
“But to convert something which is like 12 lines of code to 3 class files and numerous helper methods, does it make practical sense?”
No, but that’s not considered good practice in the industry either. Among professionals, it’s widely seen as unnecessary over-engineering, and frankly, just absurd. No one seriously promotes that.
“Let’s optimise for scale.”
I even agree you shouldn’t optimize for scale too early. But since when is that a myth?
“AI is coming to replace programmers”
Predictions about AI replacing programmers remain speculative, so we should treat them as such.
If speed matters, and it does for every business, then high-quality code is essential.
Articles like this might lead new developers to undervalue established best practices and code quality, and to believe that messy code is actually the goal.

One of the segments reminds me of something I once read somewhere. It said that the focus of programming should not immediately be to have the best performant code, but to simply get it working, then get it right in cleanliness and maintainability, and then optimize it. It is valuable advice for anyone. I think I saw it in a Rust context, but really it applies to anybody. Don’t worry about writing the best code immediately, worry about simply getting it right. Everything else can come later

I don’t like Rust. If I’m not developing something that requires extensive performance optimization. I’ll go with TypeScript.

This is the best piece I’ve read in a long time!! 🥹❤️ <a href="https://app.daily.dev/javierblanco" data-mention-id="9iKr6WEvso9iiyL7N47mo" data-mention-username="javierblanco" translate="no">@javierblanco</a>

Great, great article!
I’d also add to his list those architectural models that are treated like dogma: microservices, DDD, serverless, CQRS, event-driven, layered, hexagonal, and others.
There is only one type of software architecture that works in reality: adaptive.