I wasn't really trying to distinguishing between personal quantifiable gains from other gains. My being annoyed for someone else whose showed me ridiculous workarounds is a perfect example of a reason I would fix software so >I< can feel better about reality, myself and experience less pain and embarrassment for my profession if I help them again in the future.
For pure experience programming, sure we write "garbage software" to make the changes in ourselves. But if it is worth sharing (even for edification or statistical analysis) then we go back to a personal reason otherwise it has little relevance to the larger topic of discussion, and I personally focus on the garbage in "garbage software" rather than software.
For pure experience programming, sure we write "garbage software" to make the changes in ourselves. But if it is worth sharing (even for edification or statistical analysis) then we go back to a personal reason otherwise it has little relevance to the larger topic of discussion, and I personally focus on the garbage in "garbage software" rather than software.