How do I know if I'm being truly clever and not just "clever"?

Posted by Covar on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Covar
Published on 2010-05-18T14:54:07Z Indexed on 2010/05/18 15:00 UTC
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practical-programming

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code-review

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best-practices

If there's one thing I've learned from programming is that there are clever solutions to problems, and then there are "clever" solutions to problems. One is an intelligent solution to a difficult problem that results in improved efficiency and a better way to to do something and the other will wind up on The Daily WTF, and result in headaches and pain for anyone else involved.

My question is how do you distinguish between one and the other? How do you figure out if you've over thought the solution? How do you stop yourself from throwing away truly clever solutions, thinking they were "clever"?

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