> First understand the existing code. I think it is a chronic weakness of even good developers to write too early. First read! My first year programming a pro

> First understand the existing code. I think it is a chronic weakness of even good developers to write too early. First read! My first year programming a project manager remarked, "I've never heard a programmer praise another's code. It's always, 'This is crap!'". That really stuck with me, and I've tried hard to be charitable and to really understand things before making changes. It's served me well now that I consult and freelance, but it also makes me less patient with programmers who dive in to existing codebases and immediately start making changes. In marriages they say "Seek more to understand than to be understood." There is something like that in software too.