On 4 May 2010 13:45, Bob McConnell <r...@cbord.com> wrote: > From: Uri Guttman > >>>>>>> "HP" == Harry Putnam <rea...@newsguy.com> writes: >> >> HP> "Uri Guttman" <u...@stemsystems.com> writes: >> >> nope. been doing this for 35 years and it is solid advice. you > can't do >> >> a proper program unless you have a proper goal which is what the >> >> specification is. >> >> HP> Some of it looks suspiciously like hair splitting and karping of > the >> HP> first order. >> >> what you think is hair splitting, we think of as moving mountains. > this >> is what experience in developing projects (big and small) tells us. > you >> came here to learn perl. there is much more to programming than > learning >> a particular language. in fact most programming skills and knowledge > is >> language independent and that is also important to know. > > This is sounding more and more like an argument between waterfall and > agile managers about the best methodology for developing applications. > In waterfall you always started with a locked down requirements > document, but in agile we never do. The best we can get is the product > manager's interpretation of what she heard the client describe. That > usually changes as soon as she sees the first prototype. > > Harry has said he is just beginning to learn the language. As a result, > I would expect his short range goals to be adjusted as he learns what is > possible and what it takes to accomplish it. That does require some > 'driving around' to get an idea of the lay of the land and the paths > available to get from here to there. It is also called experimenting > with the tool set, or working through the exercises at the end of the > chapter. As long as he is learning, what difference does it make what > his final destination is. Do any of us know what that will be when we > start playing in a new sand box?
You have to start with *some* goal. Even in agile, you start with stories to work out in what direction you are headed. You formalise your requirements into tests and then you start coding. Yes, you revise your stories, requirements and tests as you learn more about the design and the technology, but you still need to start from somewhere. Agile is a more nuanced approach to having everything planned out before you begin coding but it's still the same underlying model of [requirements] -> [design] -> [code], just repeated daily ad nauseum. I do agree that there is a contiuum here, with "totally uninformed undirected exploring and experimentation" on one end, and "totally preplanned careful single-minded coding" on the other. Waterfall is totally preplanned, agile is somewhere in the middle. I don't think anyone advocates having *no plan* at all and guessing everywhere. Phil -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: beginners-unsubscr...@perl.org For additional commands, e-mail: beginners-h...@perl.org http://learn.perl.org/
