Do you go through periods where the most important thing is thinking about code, rather than actually creating code?

I find that I tend to spend a lot of time reading code, reading books, and thinking about code, rather than writing code, especially during term. While I'm taking courses, most of the code I write is for assignments, which can be fun but just isn't the same, and at a certain point I tend to burn out on actual hacking. Somehow, when you've just spent eighteen of the last twenty-four hours debugging a race condition in your networks homework, debugging a race condition in your side project loses its appeal....

On the plus side, reading about coding tends to give you a broader knowledge of the art than just hacking away on whatever suits your fancy. And every once in a while, you'll read something that makes you drop the book and sprint to your keyboard.

--
F o x t r o t U n i f o r m
Found a typo in this node? /msg me
The hell with paco, vote for Erudil!

You know something's wrong...
...when you read sprint and think it's a variation on sprintf.

# man sprint
No manual entry for sprint
#


Cheers

Antonio

Maybe it is because you don't have to code as much in Perl because of the exquisitely tastey documention, a massive pile of freely distributed modules, and the elegance of an expressive syntax.

I find that most times, with other languages, I spend plenty of time fighting with undocumented "features" in the syntax, undocumented "features" in libraries that cost $$$$, writing a library that should exist but doesn't, or writing a library that costs more $$$$ than we have to spend. With perl, once I reached a certain level of proficiency, writing the code was only slightly slower than thinking. Which leaves me plenty of time to read even more of that yummy documentation, and plan for my projects better :P

Also, I've learned that working too fast gets you in trouble. Best to take your time and do it right the first time. That way people don't expect fast answers and the answers you give always look good ;)

I pray the winds of power where I work never change, Perl is just the niftiest toolbox I've had to date and it suits me JUST FINE.

This is a point I was going to bring up, but felt it would bloat my post. I'm glad you brought it up though, because I think this is part of it.

The small amount of code I do write definitely gets things done, and is very satisfying. Perhaps it's not so much that I don't code up as many things any more, it's just I get them done that much quicker.

Damn, thats sad, or is it??

Case in point:

One program, 5 scripts in C.
I decided it needs to be better with only real knowledge in C and ksh. After reviewing the code, and seeing that as far as my knowledge extends, its not going to get much better in C. So I begin to explore other options, and in tern I stumble onto Perl. Was I ever amazed at the community, support, and tools before my eyes! Back to the point.

Moving forth to rewrite the code in Perl at an attempt to optimize it, I learned SOOO much more about programming in general that I could have ever imagined.

A few weeks later(Come on I knew nothing of Perl!) I had my one and so far only production code.

What do we have now? One program 2 scripts, faster execution, smaller footprint, less memory usage, and a really happy manager!

Since/During, I have only written an IRC bot, a few cron scripts, a GOD AWFUL attempt at an ESN converter, and a few scripts here and there to make life interesting.

I guess what I'm getting at is this, YOUR RIGHT! Not to cheese out ehre or anything, but.... Perl: Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible, since Jan 31 1988!

Sorry bout the rambling, he he.

-- Can't never could do anything, so give me and inch, I'll make it a mile.

It's a mixed blessing but I have a job where I'm paid to get things done rather than think about getting them done. :-\

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";

I know how you feel. My job requires constant output in the form of Java. Sometimes the pressure to produce is helpful, but a lot of times it's a real drag. Luckily I can go home and take refuge in Perl, where laziness is not only an option, but a virtue. :)

I do not know about your job, but did you have a look at that from another side?

Maybe van Gogh had to get up in the morning, paint some picture to live, but I am sure that the real art took some time to think about, making his mind up and suddenly the vision of the result comes up to the inner eye.

I think real development is a similar process and lucky are those who have a job, which allows that. There is a difference between a quick and dirty hack to get something running and the sophisticated code from the one-liner to a full fledged cpan module, that kind of thing you find here in the monastry. I do not believe that you can plan the real killer-app/mod. That needs a vision, which comes from a free mind and needs time to settle.

This is also a kind of self development and of course self-fullfillment (oops, native english speakers correct my vocabulary). Be lucky that you are allowed to think about your skills and develop them without pressure of work-to-be-done. take it as a creative rest, before you enter a higher level.

I made the same experience in my pre-perl era. As a good C/C++ programmer my jobs became boring, nothing new, breaking my ears when implementing new thoughts. Now there is perl and I am still developing new ways to put my visions into code. (still small ones, but getting bigger every time)

Don't worry, reality will catch you again.

Maybe van Gogh had to get up in the morning, paint some picture to live

Actually if memory serves, van Gogh never made a living off of his artwork (not that he didn't try, his artwork just didn't sell). He survived off of an allowance given to him by his brother.

An even more interesting case is Leonardo da Vinci who did make a living from his painting, but get this... it was largely to support his passion for science and engineering. Its hard to imagine supporting your engineering activites with artistic income. Today, the situation would be entirely reversed.

-Blake