The Secret Language of Developers 😆

                                                                             Photp by 光曦 刘 @liuguangxi on Unsplah

In the corporate world developers are often treated as an afterthought, as a cost center (although that might be just where I work).

In such software development nightmares “jargon” rules the day. If you don’t speak the “lingo” you’re likely to be maligned in the office and excluded from much of the fun with your colleagues.

The Dictionary in Full

Bandwidth

Real meaning: The capacity to transmit data.
Developer speak: I don’t have the time or mental capacity to deal with this right now.

Bikeshedding

Real meaning: Futile expenditure of time and energy in discussion of marginal technical issues.
Developer speak: The art of arguing over the color of text. Should this be dark grey or black?

Boilerplate

Real meaning: Sections of code used over and over without modification.
Developer speak: I copied this from Stack Overflow.

Code Smell

Real meaning: A surface indication that usually corresponds to a deeper problem in the system.
Developer speak: This code stinks, fix it, please.

Easter Egg

Real meaning: A hidden item placed in a movie, television show, or otherwise that isn’t part of the main story.
Developer speak: A secret feature in the software that proves developers are capable of having fun.

Hackathon

Real meaning: An event where programmers collaborate intensively on software projects.
Developer speak: A socially acceptable reason to avoid the shower for a weekend.

Legacy Code

Real meaning: Code inherited from someone else or a previous version of the software.
Developer speak: Code that comes with a silent scream.

Lingo

Real meaning: Language.
Developer speak: Developers who want to sound cool and “down with the kids” so introduce language slightly outside the norm. So, they say Lingo instead of language.

Ping

Real meaning: A tool to test network response time.
Developer speak: “I will contact you,” but makes you sound cool and tech-savvy when you really mean you’ll simply send a Slack message.

Refactor

Real meaning: The process of restructuring existing computer code.
Developer speak: I want you to think I’ve done more work than I actually have.

Rubber Ducking

Real meaning: Explaining code line-by-line to an inanimate object (like a rubber duck) to find errors.
Developer speak: What developers say they’re doing when they’re actually just talking to themselves. And you shouldn’t be doing either.

Conclusion

Don’t feel you have to use these words in your next standup meeting, but I think it would be funny if you did. Go on, it will be our joke that we share together.