4 ms·
This reminded me of the Twain quote: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Sometimes I don't know how to solve my proble
by dtwest 7y ago
This reminded me of the Twain quote: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead."
Sometimes I don't know how to solve my problems with tiny amounts of code. It often takes skill and effort to come up with an elegant solution. But I agree it is something we should try to do when we can.
- dctoedt 7y ago> the Twain quote: "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." Friendly amendment: This has been attributed as being originally from Blaise Pascal in 1656 [0] [0] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal
- dtwest 7y agoOr maybe even earlier by Cicero. Seems like a common sentiment through history. Thanks for the link!
- efxhoy 7y agoMy rewrites always end up much smaller than my original rushed implementations. I think it comes down to a few reasons * I get better at writing code. * Better understanding of the problem, the feedback from the first iteration usually tells me what the code actually had to do, not what my boss thought it needed to do. * A working but messy and bloated first iteration shows me that I can solve the problem at all, the rewrite let's me do it with some grace. The hard part is minimizing the time spent on the first messy implementation so more work can go into the good final iteration.
- downerending 7y agoThe nice thing about writing a long letter is that it doesn't have to be maintained at significant cost over time. :-)