Read the spec before programming. (This might seem obvious, but I find that it is tempting to "just see if I can get it to work" before I read the documentatio

Read the spec before programming. (This might seem obvious, but I find that it is tempting to "just see if I can get it to work" before I read the documentation. I always end up with worse code than when I take the time to read up on the technology. A similar advice is The Pragmatic Programmer's "Don't program by coincidence")