

Why Writing Software Is So Hard - leftnode
http://artisansystem.com/blog/entry/19

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ryanwaggoner
The main piece of advice of the article is _finish it_ , it being whatever
piece of software you're working on.

I think "finishing" is generally bad advice, because the problem for many
developers is that "finishing" implies perfection and makes completion seem
insurmountable. The author discusses various possibilities for what
"finishing" may mean to you, but I would simply tweak the wording a bit to be
_release it_. Get it out to the people who you think will use it and see if
(and how) they do. Then release again.

~~~
zacharydanger
Agreed, this goes hand in hand with the whole "artists ship" thing pg wrote
about. If you're _too_ caught up in the perfection of something start slicing
of limbs of it until it's releasable and go from there.

~~~
cottsak
i like your "limbs" idea. of course programmers get frightened by 'finishing'
in ryanwaggoner's context. we know what it's like to want perfect.

i'm only just learning how to slice and chop my projects into pieces... find
what i hav to do as bare minimum to make the software 'useful' and put the big
black period there.

work in very small iterations - 2 week-mini projects. set good but minimum
goals. have a "later list" so you can stop coding that next great idea u think
of.

..and after you 'finish' each mini project. hav a beer.

i loved this article.

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swombat
This article is a bit... crap.

 _Writing software, no matter what level, or how much, is very difficult._

...

 _but there are document after document written on how to write good software,
so implementation details can eventually be solved._

???

Then, when I saw he spelled "alma mater" "alma mata", I skimmed through the
rest of the article and closed the window. Sounds like he has a very newbieish
perspective on writing software.

~~~
samson
A "newbieish" perspective can sometimes help even the best professionals in
whatever industry to become more aware of flaws or improvements that they may
have become to accustomed with to notice.

------
corentin
It's hard because he is writing a framework. Since he's not solving a real
problem, he doesn't know when it's done or not.

------
johngunderman
So true. I cant even count the number of projects that I've started, only to
have them fall into the background and die, never reaching completion.

