> The main reason why research code becomes a tangled mess is due to the intrinsic nature of research. It is highly iterative work where assumptions keep being broken and reformed depending on what you are testing and working on at any given time. Moreover, you have no idea on advance where your experiments are going to take you, thus giving no opportunity to structure the code in advance so it is easy to change.
I'd say you're confirming the author's theory that writing code is a low-status activity. Papers and citations are high-status, so papers are well refined after the research is "done". Code, however, is not. If the code was considered on the same level as the paper, I think people would refine their code more after they finish the iteration process.
I'd say you're confirming the author's theory that writing code is a low-status activity. Papers and citations are high-status, so papers are well refined after the research is "done". Code, however, is not. If the code was considered on the same level as the paper, I think people would refine their code more after they finish the iteration process.