Posted by: dhj in Software Development on Dec 02, 2009
Symmetry is good. Any scientist worth his or her salt will tell you that there are many clues and insights to be found by looking for symmetry.
And yet, when it comes to writing code, most developers are either not paying any attention, don't care, or (if I may be optimistic) haven't thought about the benefits of leveraging symmetry as a driver for good coding style.
Of course, there is plenty of debate about what constitutes good coding style. Unfortunately, it's my sense that most people don't really think too much about the issue and simply adopt whatever style to which they have previously been exposed. That's why we end up with the bizarre asymetrical style inherited from the C world, i.e,
Scorecerer: the musician's 
