There are so many things, of course. But here are two things I wish I'd understood better a long time ago: * Think in the problem space / avoid thinking in imp

There are so many things, of course. But here are two things I wish I'd understood better a long time ago: * Think in the problem space / avoid thinking in implementation details. Structure your solution along lines that make sense in the problem space, name variables for that, etc. * Do the simplest thing that solves the problem at hand, but no simpler. Small, simple implementations are easier to change when (not if, when) unanticipated changes come up. If you anticipate additional functionality, leave the door open to those changes rather than writing code for them now.