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The Boy Scout Rule is Now the Scout Rule

Ben Halpern on May 09, 2018

Our field is built on metaphors and naming conventions. One great metaphor is the "Boy Scout Rule". It basically means "leave the code cleaner tha...
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Gabriel Guzman

I just call it the "campsite rule"

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Valentin Baca

I like this a lot more. Focus on what the rule is, rather than who made it. Besides, BSA are inherently USA-centric and they're much more famous for "Scout's Honor" than cleaning campfires.

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Kim Arnett 

You're my favorite Ben Halpern.

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Ben Halpern

THANK YOU. I'm tired of that damn marine biologist hogging all the top Google results.

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Kim Arnett 

LOL who does he think he is? smh.

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George Offley

Oh thank god. I thought this was going to be a mindless rant about how you hate changing gender pronouns. Not saying i think about you that way. I've just seen a lot of people lose there crap over it. It's just changing the name to try and be more inclusive. It's not that deep.

I'm all for it!

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Ben Halpern

I don't blame you for the reaction, but nah, not how I roll.

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Andrew Lucker

It was all about the cookies and popcorn. It always is. Lots of negotiations in smoke-filled rooms.

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Joe Masilotti

I created an account just to give this post a little heart.

The Scout Rule is my favorite in all of programming. It applies to every developer, no matter your level of experience. See something that could be better? Cool, now fix it!

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Ben Halpern

Yay!

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Peter Benjamin (they/them) • Edited

This is a much needed breath of fresh air.

I get so emotionally drained when I reflect on how our American culture is so broken that, in the 21st century, we're still struggling with inclusivity, gender equality, and racism.

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Meghan (she/her) • Edited

It’s because law makers and the media (for the most part) refuse to have an intolerance to intolerance, and the two sides disagree about what’s okay on basic levels

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Evaldas Buinauskas

This whole gender thing is going too far. It's okay when things are sane, but often it's radical. 😶

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Flavio Wuensche

Hi Ben! Do you have any reference to the renaming of "boy scout rule" to "scout rule"? It's been a discussion within our company and, as we're facing some resistance to make the rename happen, it'd be great to have some concrete arguments/examples. Thanks!

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Exequiel Beker • Edited

/* As far as I'm concerned, BSA was one of the last NSO (National Scout Organization) having this gender-restriction. In my country, Scouts de Argentina has been accepting any person, indistinctly from gender/religion/socioeconomic condition/etc. It's a good step for the BSA into diversity. */
Since I've read about the Scout rule, i'm in love with it! I try to keep it in mind every time I code. Thanks for noticing the name change!

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Gary Haran

I call it the campsite rule.

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Chad Kunde

You're going to run into the problem of the ambiguous term "scout" pretty quickly. I don't think the other type of scout rule -- "leave no trace" -- is what you're targeting.

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Matthew Trout

On the other hand... 'always prepared'

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tropiko

Why not invent some new saying instead? Something to focus on the value itself, like campsite rule, millitary grade cleanliness.

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Matthew Trout

Scouts have been Male / Female in the U.K for a long time now, since I was one in fact!