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Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

blog.rtwilson.com

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Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#21

Post by ChuckMcM »

In many ways the responsiveness of the machine can work against you. Back when the Amiga was a hot machine to work on there were two compilers Lattice C and Manx C, Lattice was the one sanctioned for development and it took a long time to compile and link, Manx on the other hand compiled really really fast. A number of developers discovered that the fast compiler had a weird effect of making it easy to try lots of things quickly, rather than contemplating what you needed to do next.

Then recently Randal Munroe published an XKCD cartoon on attention deficit management [1] which when I saw it, it really resonated with this same experience. Basically by slowing things down, quality improved. Clearly there is a fundamental principle here somewhere, something along that lines that there is an ideal pace for development (perhaps unique to each individual) where going faster or slower than that ideal negatively impacts quality.

[1] http://xkcd.com/862/

Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#22

Post by ChuckMcM »

sliverstorm wrote: post #13

One of the best lessons I learnt from my first boss was: “when your code doesn’t behave as expected, don’t use the debugger, think.” Can't entirely agree. I'm not a grizzled programmer, so sometimes when I'm coding for microcontrollers the debugger winds up teaching me about some new quirk in architecture. It's often something I was aware of (endianness, some of the finer details of addressing) but had not yet actual…

It drives me nuts when people 'fix' things by making the symptom go away without understanding what causes that symptom in the first place.

Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#24

Post by robintw147 »

Tycho wrote: post #23

Maybe someone could make paper based IDEs, like notebooks that have columns to trace variables, rows for declarations at the top... Edit: terrible idea, just look for a suitable jotter in the stationary sections.

What an interesting idea...puts on list of things to do sometime

Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#25

Post by glenjamin »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #22
sliverstorm wrote: post #13

One of the best lessons I learnt from my first boss was: “when your code doesn’t behave as expected, don’t use the debugger, think.” Can't entirely agree. I'm not a grizzled programmer, so sometimes when I'm coding for microcontrollers the debugger winds up teaching me about some new quirk in architecture. It's often something I was aware of (endianness, some of the finer details of addressing) but had not yet actual…

It drives me nuts when people 'fix' things by making the symptom go away without understanding what causes that symptom in the first place.

When used correctly a debugger will help you unravel the root cause of a problem, I don't see using one as a route to just fixing symptoms.

Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#29

Post by psadauskas »

I find I solve the trickiest problems in one of three places: Walking my dog, taking a shower, and laying in bed trying to fall asleep. I find that stepping away from the keyboard, and my programming environment entirely, allows me to let go of all the basic assumptions I hadn't even realized I'd been making.

Re: Want to write some code? Get away from your computer

#30

Post by mmb »

Having a baby caused me to transition to this style for personal projects. I spend a lot less time in front of the computer now and when I do it's for shorter times.

I've found this approach does give a better result and eliminates false starts. When I'm at the computer now I have already thought through what I'm going to do completely and writing the code is just a minor detail.

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