Programming Tip of the Day

[wtd]

Don't fear leading. Fear instead the prospect of being lead by a follower.

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If you do something no one else is, even if it's just a novel implementation of an existing idea, and if it has value, you will be able to charge anything you want for it.

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There are no object-oriented programming languages; just object-oriented programmers.

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Don't spend time making your initial prototype fast.

If it's a good idea, you'll have time to polish it. If it turns out to be worthless, you'll be glad you didn't waste any more time than you already have on the dead end.

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Open sourcing requires supreme confidence in your abilities. This is not to say it means you must be perfectly capable. If you were, there would be no need for input from others; it would be a boastful act.

Rather you must understand where your abilities are solid and where they are not, and you absolutely need to be able to take constructive criticism.

[wtd]

Don't follow a convention that doesn't make sense to you just because it's "how everyone does things."

Of course, this is not to say you shouldn't follow conventions. You should endeavor to understand why the convention is what it is. If you understand, but it still doesn't make sense, then don't hesitate to blaze your own path, even though you may find yourself subject to the objections of your peers.

[wtd]

There's only one way to lead: by example. Everything else is just giving orders.

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Aspiring programmers beware: when you're on a roll, you're not going to want to stop. This means a 40 hour work week might be 50 hours or even 60 hours long, and a 60 hour week might involve not sleeping for well over 24 hours.

This can be tremendous fun, and when you really start creating good stuff, it's a rush. But... it takes a toll. Make sure you can handle stress, because keeping odd hours is going to create stress.

[wtd]

Evaluate your reasons for implementing a solution.

Are your reasons simply caused by deeper problems, which if solved make your "solution" unnecessary?

[apomb]

interesting wtd

What brought this nugget of wisdom upon the community? Personal experience?

[wtd]

Much personal experience. Too much.

[apomb]

Hahaha well thank you for the wisdom, and hopefully we can all learn from your experience.
And to add validation (not that you need it), I can relate completely with evaluating a solution to see if by solving one problem, you have created more.

[wtd]

If you are passionate about something, and think you have a great idea, don't worry too much about others' reactions to your idea. If they tell you you're a fool, and you still think you're right after thoughtfully considering the arguments, persevere.

Consider the case of the Palm Foleo. Palm believed in the idea of a small laptop with minimal specs running Linux whose primary purpose was access to the internet (via tethering to a smartphone). The world laughed and told Palm there was no market for the Foleo, so Palm pulled the plug. Then the Asus Eee came along doing much the same in a less interesting form factor, and took the world by storm months later.

Imagine if Palm had the nerve to stick with it. We might be holding them up as the model from which the whole netbook/"smartbook" trend is derived.

[ecookman]

wow these are absolutely great! Thank you! Keep them coming!

or else....

[wtd]

One of the most vital skills you can nurture as a programmer is humility. It's important to be able to recognize code and applications that has been put in place as a temporary placeholder. Often we write quick hacks or create programs to workaround a problem, for lack of ability to implement an ideal solution. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

The problem is, we also often become invested in these hacks and workarounds and maintain them even when it becomes practical to do things "the right way."

One need only look at Youtube moving slowly but surely to HTML5 video in place of Flash. Flash video was a hack to workaround a problem with no other practical solution at the time: distributing streaming video in as universal a way as possible. It was never an ideal way to distribute video, but it worked. Now we have a more ideal, more direct way to accomplish the same, and it's time to let the hack go. This is the kind of thing you should learn to do with your own creations.