Defining code as "maintainable" is just plain dumb!

There... I said it... and I've done it again, I've made another big-assed bold statement that I am sure will get flamed in some small corder of the universe.  Thankfully, I'll be too busy with my head somewhere else trying to unlock the mysteries of why people think the way the do about code maintainability.  Which means I'll be writing this blog article and totally oblivious to the little flame war that I expect will erupt and threaten to eventually engulf the entire universe if I don't manage to quell the flame with a good well reasoned commentary!  (Phew!! The universe really dodged a bullet there, let me tell you!!)... Where was I?

So the issue (oh yes, I have SO many) is that I really dislike hearing people say things like:
    "...this is good maintainable code..."

or even worse:
    "...this code is Un-Maintainable!!..."

I happen to be a believer that thanks to the almighty Uncle Bob and others who brought into the light Agile and Refactoring and all that really wonderful stuff, we can maintain ALL code.  Yes, I have found my true coder's calling and decided to preach to the unwashed masses that you who are the unbelieving lost binary souls can also learn that you don't have to throw out your code, just because someone has been spreading such a heathenous word as "Un...Maintainable..." (you may hiss and jeeer every time you hear that word spoken!).

What is software really about?

Technically minded people are a funny lot, in the sense that they are usually very intelligent, have an urge to be helpful to others, love to solve problems, and yet with all these qualities they can often quite easily miss a very large part of the point about what it is they are doing. As I write this, it is the Software Developers in particular that I am thinking about.

Software is created to run on a computer, developed using tools that run on a computer, and the software works in a structured manner governed by the rules of the computer and by the other software that it interacts with. When viewed from this perspective it is easy to think that software is ultimately about solving problems with computers, and yet it seems that most often we forget that software has less to do with computers than it has to do with people.