On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 9:32 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 08:32:57PM -0700, David Brown wrote: > > This is why we get a salary. > > Yes but when I do consulting, everyone always wants to know how much I charge > per hour. Estimating the duration of software projects is hellish. > > > Sometimes, I've been able to push myself and grind out large quantities of > > code. This is getting harder the older I get. > > I know what you mean.
I've seen this too, so instead of trying to push out more code the way I've always done it before, I look for ways to make my current coding environment more efficient. Most of my code is in Perl, and for years I've happily coded that in Vim. (Note, not trying to start any argument about editors, it's what _I_ use.) As my projects got more complex, I needed ways to speed up the process of coding. Instead of just throwing more hours at a project, I started creating all kinds of abbreviations in Vim to layout the standard patterns I use a great deal. Then I found perl-support.vim, and realized I was recreating the wheel. Didn't take long to master that, and I'm more productive coding wise. I think after a number of years in a given language, a skilled programmer starts to recognize generic patterns in their work. > > > There are productive programmers and there are unproductive programmers. > > It doesn't take all that long to figure out which ones are which. Very true, some programmers just don't 'get it' and create all kinds of extra work for themselves. They copy and paste code, instead of creating modules/header files, not using version control or automated testing/builds. Sure, this may not apply to a one off program to solve a small particular problem, but what ends up happening is this little program gets leveraged to do other things and grows to be a complex app that can't be lived without. > > I don't if I should hide or not! Hard to say, but there have been times riding home that I've thought to myself I could have coded a particular piece better. Don't know about others, but there are times I think a chunk of code is ugly and shouldn't be this way. > > Chris > -- Mark Schoonover, CMDBA http://www.linkedin.com/in/markschoonover http://marksitblog.blogspot.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- KPLUG-LPSG@kernel-panic.org http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
