Larry Page and Sergey Brin Are Lousy Coders

theodp writes "Don't tell Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson about Santa and the Easter Bunny just yet. He's still reeling after learning that Larry Page and Sergy Brin are actually pretty lousy coders. That's according to I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59, a book about the company's startup days by Douglas Edwards. 'I didn't trust Larry and Sergey as coders,' Google engineering boss Craig Silverstein recalls in the book. 'I had to deal with their legacy code from the Stanford days and it had a lot of problems. They're research coders: more interested in writing code that works than code that's maintainable.' But don't cry for Larry and Sergey, Argentina — even if the pair won't be taking home any Top Coder prizes, they can at least take solace in their combined $50+ billion fortune. And, according to Woz, they certainly could have kicked Steve Jobs' butt in a coding contest!"

Ideas vs. Implementation

[intermodal]

The computing world works specifically because some people have ideas and others have the ability to implement those ideas. And the few who can handle both of those are not generally going to be capable businessmen. It is a rare individual who can excel in all three roles.

Yes, and?

[bmo]

They're research coders: more interested in writing code that works than code that's maintainable.'

So you're basically criticizing them because they're good at prototypes instead of production parts? Seriously? The world needs both prototype engineers and production engineers. STFU.

Non-story/trollbait.

--
BMO

Normal for PhD students

[Sir_Sri]

That's pretty normal for PhD students.

Most of us are aware of better coding practices, but getting things done on academic schedules tends to result in whatever can be done before reading week or before tuition is due or the like.

Typical

[Virtucon]

I've always seen software engineers point fingers at other engineers and say that their work sucks. It's the one thing that remains constant in this industry and it's no different from any other competitive field. Most of the time however the guys pointing the fingers have more skeletons in their closets in terms of bad code and use it as a deflection mechanism. Sure, there are incompetent coders but they usually wind up moving into management or the fast food industry.

Bill Gates was a lousy coder too

[Junior J. Junior III]

For a lot of these mega-successful people, it's not the beauty of the code, or the maintainabilty of it. It's having the idea that software can do something, that this something is valuable and can be used as an engine drive profits, and then getting there first. Making it as good as it can be comes much later, if ever. Seemingly not at all if you're Microsoft. Not being able to code doesn't mean that much.

Re:Typical

[Nerdfest]

I've looked over soem code and said good things about it , then had the coder say they actually just copied some of my old code they found. I've also found older code of mine that I wouldn't pass in a code review in some cases. Hopefully we all learn and actually get better, setting a higher bar for ourselves. Sometimes it's hard to keep that in mind when we apply that bar to others.

Re: Yes, and?

[Anonymous Coward]

And a lot of Wrights buildings are in shambles, or gone. Because he was an artist, not a builder.

Re:Ideas vs. Implementation

[i kan reed]

Larry and Sergy aren't google. Google is a collection of some of the best software engineers in the country(with most of their talent being wasted on getting more people to click ads).

Re:Ideas vs. Implementation

[poetmatt]

I would disagree with the talent waste. While they are at google, yes, but their focus isn't really getting people to click more ads. A lot of interesting things come out of google:

search
google music
google maps
google voice
hangouts
g+
android
android nexus devices
ingress
google glass
that media player device thing
google fiber

I wouldn't say that "most" of their talent is in advertising.

All coders start that way

[minstrelmike]

I don't know of any coders who started off writing easy to maintain code.
Most of the coders who do _write_ code that is easy to maintain only do so after having to come back a month or year later and revise code they themselves have written. /* revising other people's first draft of code just makes you over-confident that you are better than they are when that probably isn't true. Compare first drafts to first drafts, not to final code after all the bugs have been worked out and the customer has finally started understanding his own requirements */

There are even good business reasons not to worry about maintenance, such as if the product doesn't fly, then maintenance of it is moot. And if writing easy-to-understand code slows down getting the product out the door, don't do it.

Lousy?

[scottbomb]

I wouldn't call the guys who wrote the best search algorithm known to man "lousy" at what they do. Perhaps unconventional, but certainly not lousy.

Re:Ideas vs. Implementation

[s.petry]

You really can't read a thread as a conversation? Let me help.

You: Yes, but they had one idea of their own that launched Google. That's links-as-metadata idea of indexing. It was a good idea, but nothing since then has been "from the top".

Me: Come now, be fair. They had many different ideas with Google. Search and meta-data is of course the biggie, but they also had many other innovations. Hardware implementation and use comes immediately to mind. While HA was not new, Google came up with a very cheap and easy method for HA.

You: Larry and Sergy aren't google. Google is a collection of some of the best software engineers in the country(with most of their talent being wasted on getting more people to click ads).

Me: No shit! Where did I state that they were all of Google? I said that you were wrong that there was only 1 idea to start Google, and gave examples of at least 2 other ideas they had. When Google started, there was very little "click" advertising so you are trying to re-write history to fit your bias. When Google started the majority of ads were still pay-per page ads like the Newspapers.

You: I was talking about how people's talent was being wasted today, not the pre-doubleclick history of google.

You were wrong to deny my first point, but instead of admitting you were wrong you make false claims. You end up at a completely different point than you start, in a completely different era! Good grief, I feel like I'm explaining the basics of communication to an autistic kid!

Re:Ideas vs. Implementation

[Anonymous Coward]

The computing world works specifically because some people have ideas and others have the ability to implement those ideas. And the few who can handle both of those are not generally going to be capable businessmen. It is a rare individual who can excel in all three roles.

Bill Gates is one of those rare individuals.