Think.
Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
11–20 of 27 posts
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#12Start your project with a plan on a piece of paper and without a computer in front of you.
Not sure if this comment by edw519 can help you though it works for me.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#13More advice: think in terms of iterations. You might be thinking of everything in terms of some holy grail platonic ideal of the project, when in fact you will hit a number of road bumps and change your mind along the way that may completely change that.
So start smaller. What's a key piece of functionality that might set a good foundation you can build off of? Building this has the dual benefit of giving you a cognitive "win" while starting to work the "bones" of the project into your muscle memory. You'll have a much clearer idea of what the next step you need to take is to get it to that larger end-goal.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#14Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#15I'm tired of working for years on hobbies that ultimately get big and I think can turn into businesses only to find I have built this huge unmaintainable edifice of untested spaghetti that I have to shelve. So now, whether it's on the job or on my home project time, I get the git repo and build scripts squared away with some awesome testing framework that constantly watches the file system and rebuilds and running my…
Is that the obstacle to turning them into businesses? I think getting paying customers is the hard piece of the puzzle? The cashflow will help solve the spag-bowl problem. You can hire a chief refactoring officer :-)
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#16Check all the news I can find.
And when I'm not procrastinating, I write up a kind of spec, which I then revise into code sketches, and what I would like APIs to look like.
And then I fill it in. Rinse and repeat.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#17I'm tired of working for years on hobbies that ultimately get big and I think can turn into businesses only to find I have built this huge unmaintainable edifice of untested spaghetti that I have to shelve. So now, whether it's on the job or on my home project time, I get the git repo and build scripts squared away with some awesome testing framework that constantly watches the file system and rebuilds and running my…
And when you haven't worked on a project for a while, improving the test coverage is a great way to get back into it.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#18I'm tired of working for years on hobbies that ultimately get big and I think can turn into businesses only to find I have built this huge unmaintainable edifice of untested spaghetti that I have to shelve. So now, whether it's on the job or on my home project time, I get the git repo and build scripts squared away with some awesome testing framework that constantly watches the file system and rebuilds and running my…
Is that the obstacle to turning them into businesses? I think getting paying customers is the hard piece of the puzzle? The cashflow will help solve the spag-bowl problem. You can hire a chief refactoring officer :-)
There are a lot of obstacles to me turning my ideas/hobbies into businesses. Yes, getting paying customers is the hardest piece of the puzzle. On my last endeavor, I got way into the server-side weeds with profiles and accounts and billing. It was a neverending spiral because I had designed something far too complicated without a test suite; I decided it could never be completed.
I think my biggest challenge was my consistent inability to form functioning teams around my ideas. I've usually flown solo or been taken advantage of by my team (me doing all the work, them contributing nothing, waiting to see it reach "critical mass".) On the last go, I even offered a guy an equal partnership, but that was not enough and he never committed. It tempts me to think my ideas were not viable when I could never convince my peers to jump on the bandwagon. I always had users who seemed to get value out of my services, and that kept me going.
I've never gotten a huge amount of attention or gotten funded, and frankly I like the autonomy, so I have never sought any funding. Of course, that means if I have any hope of getting financial rewards from bootstrapping my hobby work, I've got to be very organized, which I never have been on past projects.
For my current project, I've decided to open source my new codebase with the AGPL. In the business I'm looking at getting into, open source is common with the popular services, but these projects rarely get any outside contributors. Hopefully I can at least get code reviews, bug reports, and maybe even some code contributions if followers don't mind assigning their copyrights to me.
On this new project, I've got a really tricked out client-side JavaScript development environment with Gulp, Webpack, Karma, and Closure Compiler. I'm really happy with how simple and powerful the build system is, and I'm hoping that by making it easy to build and test, I can attract devs to join my team.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#19I always model the database first then I start coding. In my experience if the DB is right the rest is easy.
Pretty much what I was thinking. If there is too much logic at the app level, its often worth revising your database models. Though a lot of the youngsters these days don't seem to bother with relational databases.
Re: Ask HN: Before I write a single line of code, I
#20> Why? Or, is it just better to start coding and figure it all out on the fly? Yes it is. Write code towards the solution and see what it leads you. Then you might get into a "writers block" and can't decide whether data structure A or B is best. So you think about it some, decide which one you like and write more code. Then you might find out that you thought A was best but it turns out B was better. So you refactor…
In my experience it will lead to some half thought through design and a load of technical debt.
"Weeks of coding can save you hours of planning".