Attribute is a characteristic or property of an object in object-oriented programming. It's a fancy way of saying "variable," but we use "attribute" because it makes us sound smarter in front of the business folks.
I was trying to debug this legacy Java code, and I couldn't figure out why the attribute wasn't being set correctly. Turns out, the previous developer thought it would be hilarious to name it "definitelyNotAnAttribute."
In the latest version of our over-engineered JavaScript framework, we've decided to call attributes "reactive data bindings" because, apparently, that's what all the cool kids at Facebook are doing these days.
Language Features: Martin Fowler's blog dives into various programming concepts, including discussions on object-oriented design principles and best practices for working with attributes. It's a great resource if you want to impress your coworkers with your deep knowledge of software development.
Data-Driven Domination: How Top Companies Leverage Data for Competitive Advantage: This Medium article explores how companies use data as a strategic asset, highlighting the importance of unique data sets (attributes) in gaining a competitive edge. It's perfect if you want to pretend you understand how machine learning works.
Resources: Paul Graham's "Resources" page is a comprehensive collection of tools and documents related to Lisp and Scheme, which heavily utilize attributes. It's a must-read if you want to become one of those insufferable functional programming evangelists.
Note: the Developer Dictionary is in Beta. Please direct feedback to skye@statsig.com.