What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
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Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#2Use an IDE, not VIM
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#3Use an IDE, not VIM
I started with Emacs. Every time I've tried to use an IDE I go right back to my first partner that never lets me down.
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#4Review how others write in your language by examining GitHub projects.
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#5Quantity trumps quality: if you code a lot and keep your eye out of quality, your style will improve.
As a perfectionnist, I had to learn this the hard way.
https://blog.codinghorror.com/quantity-always-trumps-quality...
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#6Use an IDE, not VIM
I've used Eclipse and Visual Studio at work. I currently use vim at both work and at home.
I generally prefer vim (with syntastic, clang-format(/-diff) and my own .vimrc), but I would never write e.g., Java code using vim.
I would rephrase that as, "be pragmatic and know your options".
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#7"Let go of your emotions" is very superficial and not really doable with the advice that is given.
We build emotions based on the truths we perceive. The only way to healthily change emotions is to change those truths. If you feel very attached to your work and flip out (fear, anger) if someone else finds an error in it - you need to change the believe that something bad will happen to you when you make mistakes. Nobody will hit you over the head * , nobody will laugh at you * , you will not lose your job or career * . You will not be worth less as a person. You made a mistake because your brain is built in a way that allows for errors, and so is every other human brain on this planet.
* Ok somebody might do these things to you. But you will cope, and other people will help you cope.
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#8Although I had done some programming before, I always remember the first lecture of the first year of the CS course I did where the lecturer basically concentrated on the importance of KISS (i.e. Keep It Simple Stupid). He did say that we'd probably not believe him, and of course we didn't as we were all desperate to prove how awfully clever we were. He did also say that if we stuck at things long enough we'd probably come to share his view.
How I wished I'd manage to believe that bit of advice a bit earlier in my career and saved a few projects from my zealous architectural astronautics. Well, at least that's one lesson I did eventually learn.
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#9Smalltalk plus the book about patterns. That would have been a game changer. It happened to me but years later and largely improved my coding quality on all other tech stacks
Re: What are some things you wish you knew when you started programming?
#10The vendor's way of doing things is just one of many possible ways, the vendor is often not right, the vendor often has their own agenda, the sky will not open and smite me if I don't go the vendor's way.