The first one is utter garbage
"This is complete shit because of X Y Z" is actionable "this is complete shit" is not. At what or who it is directed is irrelevant, it's useless.
> The boss who says this respects you, respects your work, and knows you can do better than this uncharacteristic example without them holding your hand.
Nope, because again, no indication why it his shit.
>> If you used this pattern in this area, it would become easier to read
> "You." This comment is directed at me and the choices I made. The comment uses the conditional - it isn't frustrated, it's wistful. The language is stilted and formal; they're keeping me at an arm's length.
Yes, "you" prima-ballerina, you wrote it, take responsibility for it.
> And easier to read? Humiliating that my thought process is that incoherent.
You should be. Code is for reading. You should know that by now.
It would be different if it was directed at junior dev but you should know better.
Fix it and move on, everyone writes bad or unclear code sometimes.
>> This variable has a generic name, please make it more expressive.
> Very simple present tense statement, followed by very simple imperative. I'm clearly being handled. And please? They are literally begging me not to suck so bad. This isn't just arms-length language, this is you're-going-on-a-PIP-and-we're-being-careful-not-to-give-you-any-employment-law-leverage language. If someone ever gives me feedback like this, that's a sign I'm going to get fired.
That's insanely weird assumptions you're making. Everyone makes bad code. Being polite is hedging your bet against how the other side answers to your feedback. If you know someone and you know their style "hey dude, this reads like shit, fix it" can be entirely enough and just fine, but if you don't know the person all that well being nice won't hurt.
Not "you named variable weird, you're fired" like you're trying to interpret it
