|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
title = "Things I Learnt The Hard Way - Spec First, Then Code"
|
|
|
|
|
date = 2019-06-18
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[taxonomies]
|
|
|
|
|
tags = ["en-au", "books", "things i learnt", "specs", "code"]
|
|
|
|
|
+++
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Without requirements or design, programming is the art of adding bugs to an
|
|
|
|
|
empty text file." -- Louis Srygley
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<!-- more -->
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you don't know what you're trying to solve, you don't know what to code.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A lot of times we have this feeling of "let me jump straight to the code". But
|
|
|
|
|
without understanding what problem you're trying to solve, you'd end up
|
|
|
|
|
writing a bunch of things that doesn't solve anything -- or, at least,
|
|
|
|
|
anything that _should_ be solved.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So here is the point: Try to get a small spec on whatever you want to solve.
|
|
|
|
|
But be aware that even that spec may have to be [thrown
|
|
|
|
|
out](/books/things-i-learnt/throw-away), as the understanding of the problem
|
|
|
|
|
tend to grow as long as the project continue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, it's paradoxical: You need a spec to know what to code to avoid coding
|
|
|
|
|
the wrong solution, but the spec may be wrong, so you _end up_ solving the
|
|
|
|
|
wrong solution anyway. So what's the point? The point is, the spec reflects
|
|
|
|
|
the understanding of a problem _at a certain point_: All you (and your team)
|
|
|
|
|
know is _there_.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The times I stood longer looking at my own code wondering what to do next were
|
|
|
|
|
when we didn't have the next step defined: It was missing some point of the
|
|
|
|
|
solution or we didn't have the communication structures defined or something
|
|
|
|
|
of sorts. Usually, when that happened, I stumbled upon Twitter or Mastodon
|
|
|
|
|
instead of trying to solve the problem. So when you see yourself doing this
|
|
|
|
|
kind of stuff -- "I don't know what to do next, and I'm not sure if I'm done
|
|
|
|
|
with the current problem" -- then maybe it's time to stop and talk to other
|
|
|
|
|
people in the project to figure that out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Another way to think this: Erik Deitrich have a post about [Don’t Learn to
|
|
|
|
|
Code — Learn to Automate](https://daedtech.com/dont-learn-to-code-learn-to-automate/),
|
|
|
|
|
something I can get behind 'cause most of us, when doing stuff, think "I need
|
|
|
|
|
to do this, then I pick that thingy and put it there and from there I do this
|
|
|
|
|
other work". Basically, we create mental models of specs, step by step, on
|
|
|
|
|
what we need to do. And, from there, it may be even simpler, 'cause now all
|
|
|
|
|
you need to learn is "First, how I do this; Ok, got it, now I get the result
|
|
|
|
|
from this and put there" and so on. You can even have a learning path, if
|
|
|
|
|
you're a beginner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/disclaimer", prev_chapter_title="Disclaimer", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/steps-as-comments", next_chapter_title="Write Steps as Comments") }}
|
