Nico0020 wrote:Something I've never understood about programmers that I'd like someone to shed light on... Why do so many programmers who quit a certain project decide destroy all files and source code of something they worked on? I've known musicians to do the same. I'm not a "creator" so I've never understood this idea. A half finished idea is never bad thing IMHO.
I don't think all that many programmers would ever do something so rash and irrational, but yes, some have been known to do this. I've never done this myself, and to the best of my knowledge, neither have any of my coder friends. Nevertheless, I do have some ideas about what causes this behaviour.
Firstly, the nature of coding itself. It can require a lot of mental energy, especially if you're building something as complex as a complete game engine (or if you're just not very good at it). Concentrating on a complex, logical task for unnaturally long periods of time is exhausting and certainly not for everyone.
Secondly, lack of human interaction. Of course I'm not saying that all programmers are socially inept hermits, but it's a simple fact that programming is difficult to combine with an active social life. Isolation can result in mental problems such as depression.
Thirdly, bugs (whether caused by oneself or by the compiler, OS, libraries, third party code, etc) can be extremely frustrating. While most are easily fixed, others may drive even the most experienced programmers to the boiling point.
I can totally see how these things can be enough to make some people crack. And when that happens, destroying the source code - counter-productive though it may be - probably will make them feel much better, at least for a moment. Suddenly they don't have to deal with those bugs any more, those thousands of lines of code, those long "to do" lists... What a relief! I still wouldn't recommend it though.
Also some people are just drama queens.