Don’t Pull out Your Hair
There are certain habits that will make your programming experience enjoyable. I’ve watch people new to programming; The ones that pick up good habits tend to continue coding. The ones that don’t, are prone to getting frustrated. Save yourself the trouble.
Top 5 habits to Develop
- Be Anal about Syntax – Anal people are not fun, but in this case, it pays to be anal. Common errors are often a result of poor coding syntax. A miss spelled function, or a forgotten semi-colon.
- One step at a time – Coding is like a marathon. Complicated programs are written one line at a time. Procesing makes it easy to compile your code. So just run the code nearly every step. If you write a bunch of code, and run it, it becomes more difficult to spot your mistake.
- Be consistent – Figure out a naming and formatting convention . Everyone has their own, just knows yours. That way it’ll help you from all the confusion when you re-read your code after a layoff from it.
- Save, Save, Save – Nothing sucks more then figuring something out, and losing your work. Save, Save, Save. I have my own versioning system, when I note any new feature that I just completed. I helps when I’m trying to pinpoint my errors
- Quit – If your stuck, simply just quit and do something else. Often when your stuck, it’s because your trying the same thing over. Step way, go get laid, do anything to not be in a frustrated state. When your mind is clear, your error/problem will be more obvious.