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Too scared to write a line of code

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Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#61

Post by andrewljohnson »

People interpret "just do it" as practical advice to write good code, but really it's practical advice to get code from people who won't otherwise write anything. Good code comes from both will and knowledge. When you don't have knowledge, will alone will do.

"Just do it" is the best advice for stuck people - you tell them to just start doing the thing, not worry about details, and eventually you'll do it right. This is good advice for a business guy who's pin-wheeling ideas in his head, a programmer with no product sense, or anyone else who wants but does not make.

When you know a little bit about what you want to build, and maybe even a bit about _how_ to build it - when you have some actual experience, skill, and will - then the right advice is typically to slow down and think it through.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#62

Post by Nervetattoo »

Actually you need to stop earlier, I've found that quite a bit of the stuff that people think they need to have built isn't even close to needed in reality. In fact, building it and shipping it can be a major mistake itself.

So I completely agree on the underlying principle: Dont to _anything_ prematurely, and that first and foremost includes actually writing any code at all.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#63

Post by readme »

With experience, you will know where you need to put a little extra effort in to avoid having to rewrite it later because it's too slow.

Also, test your app with LOTS of data. Even during early development. A slow algorithm/query will become very obvious under a high load.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#64

Post by chousuke »

laumars wrote: post #29

I'm by no means a pure functional programmer, but I've found some of the mantra from that paradigm helps when building the early blocks of a program as it allows you to break down your application into core problems which can be tackled individually. Plus it allows your application to scale easier and makes it easier to rip out and replace code as you start to add complexity. But of course, before starting any major…

The reason pure functional programming is good for "ripping out and replacing" code is because your code units necessarily have fewer interdependencies.

a pure functional language is really good for writing dumb code that "just works" in the sense that it does what you need it to do even if it isn't very pretty or fast, while at the same time keeping it reasonably maintainable because the code will not be rife with accidental complexity and assumptions about global state.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#65

Post by shurcooL »

Here's what I came to after 10 years.

1. Write code fast.

2. Refactor when necessary (either because you got to a dead end and can't keep writing code fast anymore, or because you're done and want to move on to another task).

3. Goto 1.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#66

Post by Zakharov »

tikhonj wrote: post #46

I don't know--my impression is that most people go to far in the other direction. They write code with no thought at all for the future, and then shortly have nightmarish debugging sessions in spaghetti code that's impossible to extend or reuse. All in the name of a rather extreme "worse is better" philosophy. I've certainly experienced this with some of the people I worked with recently. Anything you win in the shor…

If you write code too slowly, go faster. If you write code too quickly, go slower.

You can tell if you're too slow when you've spent two weeks thinking about the program and have neither working code nor a detailed design, or if you've created a detailed design only to realize upon implementation you'd gone about it entirely the wrong way.

You can tell if you're too fast if you find yourself spending more time cleaning up messes of poorly-thought-out spaghetti code.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#69

Post by ojbyrne »

michaelochurch wrote: post #58

The Bad Guys want you to feel insecure about your work, your position, your relative standing, and everything else because their worst nightmare is that software engineers and scientists and thinkers wake up and realize how much leverage they would actually have if they were organized and capable of looking out for their own interests. We'd reshape the entire business landscape, and the power relationships between us…

Really? From my experience the "Bad Guys" don't give a shit about code quality and will shower you with praise if you give them the crappiest code possible, as long as you make the changes they want 5 minutes ago. This article is really talking about the insecurity that other programmers inculcate, because we're all very smart and all very competitive.

Re: Too scared to write a line of code

#70

Post by laumars »

chousuke wrote: post #64
laumars wrote: post #29

I'm by no means a pure functional programmer, but I've found some of the mantra from that paradigm helps when building the early blocks of a program as it allows you to break down your application into core problems which can be tackled individually. Plus it allows your application to scale easier and makes it easier to rip out and replace code as you start to add complexity. But of course, before starting any major…

The reason pure functional programming is good for "ripping out and replacing" code is because your code units necessarily have fewer interdependencies. a pure functional language is really good for writing dumb code that "just works" in the sense that it does what you need it to do even if it isn't very pretty or fast, while at the same time keeping it reasonably maintainable because the code will not be rife with a…

I know. That's why I raised the topic of functional programming to begin with :p
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