>> 1. Do I spend most of my time coding intuitively,
>> then document my resulting work later? And,
>> consequently, docs always lags ... Why wait for the
>> docs to be ready to release the software?
>
>> 2. Or do I design everything on paper beforehand
>> and maintain this documentation during my
>development
>> work?
>
>> Alain: I know the second choice is the textbook
>> answer to this dilemna but, in real life, it is more
>
>> often the first tactic that is used instead, eh!
>> (myself included)
>
>Anthony: I'd say the first tactic is better. Far
>better.
Anthony,
I don't care whether the docs are written before or after the code, as
long as you don't see this as an excuse not to comment your code. If you
extensively comment your code, someone else can later write the docs while
you keep coding away. If you don't comment, we're all off bad. Add
extensive comments, why a check for a variable being NULL is there, why you
add or subtract 1 to nudge an image, what part of a graphic is drawn, for
what tokens which exception in code handling is. Mark everything one would
have to look up, etc. If we do that consequently, we'll have maintainable
code, if the concept is good. Else, we'll have to re-write everything every
6 months...
Cheers,
-- M. Uli Kusterer
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