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Build a snippet library. I have found smart people don't waste time writing the same thing over and over again. I learned this lesson early from some develope

Build a snippet library. I have found smart people don't waste time writing the same thing over and over again. I learned this lesson early from some developers and it has always served me well. Not saying I am a stick to measure anyone by, but I feel not relearning the same thing over and over again has really served me well. Also, learn your toolset inside and out so that you are worrying about use case, not how to use the tools or specific programming language to solve your problem. If you are only solving a use case, and not learning the toolset then time moves much faster. I don't know any real numbers, but assume most devs know 50% of the toolset (language, IDE, debugger etc), then highly efficient devs know 85-90%. So they don't waste their time learning how to do something but rather spend their time learning which route to take to solve the problem correctly.

marcofiset 12y ago
So many times this. I see a lot of people using a very powerful IDE, and not even taking the time to learn the most basic shortcuts, like the "rename variable" refactoring, go to file/class/symbol, or setting up the IDE to auto-format the code based on the team standard, just to name a few.
solomatov 12y ago
Snippet library is called code duplication which isn't nice.
- davismwfl 12y ago
  In addition/clarification to my other point, sometimes snippets are as simple as an AJAX post with proper error handling already coded, but in which the details of the specific call still have to be filled out. This just saves time, and means I get to stay focused on solving real issues and not recalling the details of an AJAX post error handling issue that has been solved prior.
- davismwfl 12y ago
  I do and don't agree with that. I keep a snippet library for things which I can reuse between projects. I agree, if used wrong (like intra-project) it can be bad, but that is no different than most anything. Use any tool wrong and you will get bad results. I have worked a lot in consulting, and either we create and share a common library with clients (which some refuse) or we use a snippet library to stop us from writing the same common code components. Better a snippet library than having a good memory which means you might miss things and have to repeat mistakes which costs you time.

marcofiset 12y ago

So many times this. I see a lot of people using a very powerful IDE, and not even taking the time to learn the most basic shortcuts, like the "rename variable" refactoring, go to file/class/symbol, or setting up the IDE to auto-format the code based on the team standard, just to name a few.

solomatov 12y ago

Snippet library is called code duplication which isn't nice.

davismwfl 12y ago
In addition/clarification to my other point, sometimes snippets are as simple as an AJAX post with proper error handling already coded, but in which the details of the specific call still have to be filled out. This just saves time, and means I get to stay focused on solving real issues and not recalling the details of an AJAX post error handling issue that has been solved prior.
davismwfl 12y ago
I do and don't agree with that. I keep a snippet library for things which I can reuse between projects. I agree, if used wrong (like intra-project) it can be bad, but that is no different than most anything. Use any tool wrong and you will get bad results. I have worked a lot in consulting, and either we create and share a common library with clients (which some refuse) or we use a snippet library to stop us from writing the same common code components. Better a snippet library than having a good memory which means you might miss things and have to repeat mistakes which costs you time.