Long distance runners talk about “hitting the wall” — the point where their body runs out of resources, making it almost impossible to continue. I hit an intellectual wall late Monday night. Fortunately, I not only finished the race but went an unexpected extra mile. (And now my brain circuits are fried.)
Not an actual race (beyond a vague self-imposed deadline), but a hobby project like one of those ships in a bottle. A painstaking and challenging task in the name of fun and exercise of acquired skill. But no race, no ship, no bottle. This was a software project.
My inner geek rampant, I built a virtual 32-bit CPU (in Python).
If nothing else (and I think there is plenty of else), I can look back on all those years of writing code and pick out the main themes and principles, the things that seemed to matter most.
Here’s a simple tip! I can’t begin to count how many potential code bugs this has eliminated. It takes some getting used to but once you make it automatic it’s a real help in keeping code and your thinking correct.
Clarity is the #1 priority when writing code. Clarity trumps everything else; it’s even more important than the code being correct! One of the biggest wins a serious programmer can offer is writing clear, readable code.
Logos con carne 