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Well, I've written a few simple applications, but what I can't really get is how to actually start on a big application? I mean, do you just have to break it do

by chunky1994 15y ago

Well, I've written a few simple applications, but what I can't really get is how to actually start on a big application? I mean, do you just have to break it down into little pieces and then put them into a whole? Isn't this a very frustrating method of doing so? Is there a better method? Or is this a necessary vice you'll have to overcome?

devs1010 15y ago
Modularization is a good thing, not a bad thing. With a large project its better to think of it as a set of components rather than one whole. At my current job we are stuck with a large monolithic legacy application and everyone is in agreement to break it into modules, which we are currently working on. Try to pick out the core "units" of a project that can be relatively self contained and work on those first. You should learn not to worry about starting with the UI, the UI shouldn't necessarily drive a software development project.
billpatrianakos 15y ago
You're definitely showing your inexperience with that comment and that's okay, you'll learn. Even when you're writing procedural code you have to break it down. That's what programming is all about. It's really the beauty of it. By breaking down your app into a bunch of smaller problems that you solve you make it much easier on yourself. I think you should look into learning object oriented programming concepts. Breaking things down is a really good thing. Not only is your code easier to maintain but it's easy to test and extend. If you were to write one giant program all at once and it fails to work then you have to tackle hundreds of lines of code. By building things as modules you are able to implement functionality one class at a time and know one thing works before moving to the next. My advice would be not to try to start a big application. If I knew what you wanted to build I could be more specific but let me give you an example. Let's say you wanted to build a music player. Instead of tackling a huge iTunes clone start by creating an app that simply lists and organizes music files in a particular folder. Then add support for playback. Then playlist creation and so on. Taking on too much at once is a noob mistake that kills the motivation to learn before you get anywhere. There was a 3 year period where I almost gave up on programming because I tried to skip over the fundamentals and got frustrated. Take it slow.

devs1010 15y ago

Modularization is a good thing, not a bad thing. With a large project its better to think of it as a set of components rather than one whole. At my current job we are stuck with a large monolithic legacy application and everyone is in agreement to break it into modules, which we are currently working on. Try to pick out the core "units" of a project that can be relatively self contained and work on those first. You should learn not to worry about starting with the UI, the UI shouldn't necessarily drive a software development project.

billpatrianakos 15y ago

You're definitely showing your inexperience with that comment and that's okay, you'll learn. Even when you're writing procedural code you have to break it down. That's what programming is all about. It's really the beauty of it. By breaking down your app into a bunch of smaller problems that you solve you make it much easier on yourself. I think you should look into learning object oriented programming concepts. Breaking things down is a really good thing. Not only is your code easier to maintain but it's easy to test and extend. If you were to write one giant program all at once and it fails to work then you have to tackle hundreds of lines of code. By building things as modules you are able to implement functionality one class at a time and know one thing works before moving to the next. My advice would be not to try to start a big application. If I knew what you wanted to build I could be more specific but let me give you an example. Let's say you wanted to build a music player. Instead of tackling a huge iTunes clone start by creating an app that simply lists and organizes music files in a particular folder. Then add support for playback. Then playlist creation and so on. Taking on too much at once is a noob mistake that kills the motivation to learn before you get anywhere. There was a 3 year period where I almost gave up on programming because I tried to skip over the fundamentals and got frustrated. Take it slow.