Another funny comment I see on various software development sites is - "Why are you doing it that way?" - with very condescending tone.  There may be a reason which the castigator is not aware. People tend to be patterned oriented and to project those patterns onto other's issues. Better to say - "What is the underlying issue you are trying to solve" or "I approach these issues in the following manner". No condescention and postive towards an answer. Let's help each other learn in this ever expanding universe of software development.

Defensiveness seems to be a common characteristic of programers.  Why?  On a recent contract, I made an observation which another developer disagreed. There was a bit of banter and then I was told "This is CSS 101, I can not hold your hand." Well it may have been CSS 101 but I did not see the error that he saw. And as time has taught me, when two intelligent people report different observations, they are probably looking at two different places. This is very common in development.  How one arrives at a point in a program may affect the behavior seen. So it was with this interaction - we were not both looking at the same "thing". Unfortunately an apology did not follow.

My approach has been "let me take a look with you". Take the time to insure that I understand the difference before commenting. There is much to know and reading and experience does not insure exposure to the all issues. Patience is required.