I’m a web developer & data visualizer working at a think tank in D.C. I'm a self-taught dev trying to better my skills. I spend most of my time on the front end of the stack.
Location
Washington, D.C.
Work
Lead Developer at Center for Strategic and International Studies
Thanks for the comment! I think I’m going to disagree. Although I concede that at a glance, reading the hard coded version is easier to jump into, from a long term maintenance perspective it isn’t better. I’ve had to update the data for this interactive twice now, and both times something went wrong at first because I forgot to fully implement the new year. I’ve built a lot more interactives using the data driven approach that don’t have that same problem and can be updated just by uploading a new file. Yes, it takes longer for a new dev to read the code to understand how it works, but it’s straight forward enough that I think that extra mental effort pays for itself.
Thanks for the comment! I think I’m going to disagree. Although I concede that at a glance, reading the hard coded version is easier to jump into, from a long term maintenance perspective it isn’t better. I’ve had to update the data for this interactive twice now, and both times something went wrong at first because I forgot to fully implement the new year. I’ve built a lot more interactives using the data driven approach that don’t have that same problem and can be updated just by uploading a new file. Yes, it takes longer for a new dev to read the code to understand how it works, but it’s straight forward enough that I think that extra mental effort pays for itself.
There are so many unknowns still unanswered so the best reply I could give was 'at a glance'.