First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program • Hacker News Board

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#41

Post by techiferous » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:06 PM UTC

Agreed. I would broaden the #1 Rule of Programming to be:

SOLVE PROBLEMS.

Sometimes you do this by programming it yourself, sometimes by doing it off-the-shelf, but if at the end of the day you've solved someone else's problem, they will give you money.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#42

Post by mcotton » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:13 PM UTC

There is something to be said for writing code you can be proud of. I'm always working on finishing projects faster and not introduce bugs in the name of speed.

I can't see a furniture craftsman recommend that you just buy a chair at IKEA.

This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#43

Post by pretzel » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:15 PM UTC

mcotton wrote: post #42

There is something to be said for writing code you can be proud of. I'm always working on finishing projects faster and not introduce bugs in the name of speed. I can't see a furniture craftsman recommend that you just buy a chair at IKEA. This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

>This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

As in the most succesful?

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#44

Post by raganwald » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:23 PM UTC

pretzel wrote: post #43

mcotton wrote: post #42

There is something to be said for writing code you can be proud of. I'm always working on finishing projects faster and not introduce bugs in the name of speed. I can't see a furniture craftsman recommend that you just buy a chair at IKEA. This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

>This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software. As in the most succesful?

IKEA is a furniture vendor, not a furniture retailer, furniture consultant, or furniture user. If you are choosing whether to build a business application on top of Microsoft's BizTalk, you are not choosing whether to be Microsoft!

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#45

Post by adbachman » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:25 PM UTC

pretzel wrote: post #43

mcotton wrote: post #42

There is something to be said for writing code you can be proud of. I'm always working on finishing projects faster and not introduce bugs in the name of speed. I can't see a furniture craftsman recommend that you just buy a chair at IKEA. This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

>This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software. As in the most succesful?

Perhaps, and for those who wish to produce the next Windows ME, this is good enough.

But IKEA succeeds because they meet a very broad set of needs very shallowly. The IKEA book shelf will not necessarily be one you can hand down to your children, but it's pretty guaranteed to go well with your Target couch and Walmart dresser.

I'm not interested in competing with the mass producers on their terms.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#46

Post by mcotton » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:25 PM UTC

pretzel wrote: post #43

mcotton wrote: post #42

There is something to be said for writing code you can be proud of. I'm always working on finishing projects faster and not introduce bugs in the name of speed. I can't see a furniture craftsman recommend that you just buy a chair at IKEA. This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software.

>This philosophy leads to becoming the IKEA of software. As in the most succesful?

If that is what you are going for, then yes. There is nothing wrong with that strategy. I haven't found anything remarkable at IKEA (except for price).

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#47

Post by omarish » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:30 PM UTC

I'd be interested to hear what some of the successful founders in YC have to say about this one.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#48

Post by blue1 » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:36 PM UTC

#1 Rule or programming is: programmers start counting from 0, not from 1.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#49

Post by rythie » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:45 PM UTC

Virtually everyone I meet nowadays tells me they are using some high level framework like Rails, CakePHP, Django with jQuery/Prototype etc. or building on top of Wordpress. Even .net is pretty high level.

So, I'm not sure people are doing what you are saying.

Re: First Rule of Programming Is Don't Program

#50

Post by jaddison » Sun, Oct 25, 2009, 6:45 PM UTC

I'd say it can be simplified even further:

THINK before you SOLVE.

A natural tendency for programmers/developers is to move towards a knee-jerk reaction of "I'll just start coding this". It's not that good solutions don't come up from that line of thinking; it's more that - as cyman states - there are faster ways to accomplish results if you simply think about how you're going to solve the real problem(s).

Once a problem is analysed and broken down into it's appropriate tasks/needs/requirements, sometimes a credit card solves the problem faster (and better).

Oh, and when you purchase solutions, you typically can investigate APIs and system requirements beforehand. Even after purchase, most reliable solution vendors offer support/money back guarantees.