>subjective reception from critics and audiences is exactly the point
Clearly software is aimed at subjective reception by its customers. We also have the adage "programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute" -- to the extent you believe this, subjective reception of the code by maintainers also matters. For these reasons I think subjective evaluations and "taste" for software / software engineers is undersold.
Clearly software is aimed at subjective reception by its customers. We also have the adage "programs are meant to be read by humans and only incidentally for computers to execute" -- to the extent you believe this, subjective reception of the code by maintainers also matters. For these reasons I think subjective evaluations and "taste" for software / software engineers is undersold.