Managing Project Complexity

The Art of Programming

Programming is an art. Any programmer will agree it takes a lot of creativity to solve problems with a computer. Creative people have an advantage in that they are not afraid to explore new avenues of design. Their open-mindedness and readiness to accept new ideas gives them the ability to see problems differently from people who tend towards the cut and dry. This section offers a few suggestions on how you can stimulate your creativity.

Don’t Start At The Computer

Unless you have a good idea about what source code to write, sitting down at the computer without first thinking through some design issues is the worst mistake you can make. If you have ever suffered from writer s block when writing a paper for class then you can begin to understand what you will experience if you begin your project at the computer.

I recommend you forget the computer, go someplace quiet and relaxing, with pen and paper, and draft a design document. It doesn t have to be big or too detailed. Entire system designs can be sketched on the back of a napkin. The important thing is that you give some prior thought regarding your program s design and structure before you start coding.

Your choice of relaxing locations is important. It should be someplace where you feel really comfortable. If you like quiet spaces, then seek quiet spaces; if you like to watch people walk by and think of the world, then an outdoor cafe may be the place for you. Inside, outside, at the beach, on the ski slope, wherever you prefer.

What you seek is the ability to let your mind grind away on the solution. Let your mind do the work. Writing code at the computer is a mechanical process. Formulating the solution is where real creativity is required and is the part of the process that requires the most brainpower. Typing code is more like an exercise on attention to detail.

Inspiration Strikes At The Weirdest Time

If you let your mind work on the problem, it will offer its solution to you at the weirdest times. I solve most of my programming problems in my sleep. As a student, I kept computers in the bedroom and would get up at all hours of the night to work on ideas that had popped into my head in a dream.

Try to have something to write on close at hand at all times. A pad of paper and pen next to the bed or next to the toilet can come in handy! You can also use a small tape recorder, digital memo recorder, or your personal digital assistant. Whatever means suit your style. Just be prepared. There s nothing worse than the sinking feeling of having had the solution come to you in the middle of the night, or in the shower, or on the drive home from work or school, only to forget it later. You’ll be surprised at how many times you’ll say to yourself, Hey, that will work! only to forget it and have no clue what you were thinking when you finally get hold of a pen.

Own Your Own Computer

Do not rely on the computer lab! I repeat, do not rely on the computer lab! The computer lab is the worst possible place for inspiration and cranking out code. If at all possible, you should own your own computer. It should be one that is sufficiently powerful enough to be used for Java software development.

You Either Have Time and No Money, or Money and No Time

The one good reason for not having your own personal computer is severe economic hardship. Full-time students sometimes fall into this category. If you are a full-time student then what you usually have instead of a job, or money, is gobs of time. So much time that you can afford to spend your entire day at school and complain to your friends about not having a social life. But you can stay in the computer lab all day long and even be there when it is relatively quiet.

On the other hand, you may work full-time and be a part-time student. If this describes you, then you don’t have time to screw around driving to school to use the computer lab. You will gladly pay for any book or software package that makes your life easier and saves you time.

The Family Computer Is Not Going To Cut It!

If you are a family person working full-time and attending school part-time, then your time is a precious commodity. If you have a family computer that everyone shares, adults as well as children, then get another computer, put it off limits to everyone but yourself, and password-protect it. This will ensure that your loving family does not accidentally wipe out your project the night before it is due. Don’t kid yourself, it happens. Ensure your peace of mind by having your own computer in your own little space with a sign on it that reads, Touch This Computer And Die!

Set The Mood

When you have a good idea on how to proceed with entering source code, you will want to set the proper programming mood.

Location, Location, Location

Locate your computer work area someplace that s free from distraction. If you are single, this may be easier than if you are married with children. If you live in a dorm or frat house, good luck! Perhaps the computer lab is an alternative after all.

Have your own room if possible, or at least your own corner of a larger room that is recognized as a quiet zone. Noise-canceling headphones might help if you find yourself in this situation.

Set rules. Let your friends and family know that it s not cool to bother you when you are programming. I know it sounds rude, but when you get into the flow, which is discussed below, you will become agitated when someone interrupts your train of thought to ask you about school lunch tomorrow or the location of the car keys. Establish the ground rules up front that say when it is a good time to disturb you when you are programming. The rule is - never!

Concept Of The Flow

Artists tend to become absorbed in their work, not eating and ignoring personal hygiene for days, even weeks, at a time. Those who have experienced such periods of intense concentration and work describe it as a transcendental state where they have complete clarity of the idea of the finished product. They tune out the world around them, living inside a cocoon of thought and energy.

Programmers can get into the flow. I have achieved the flow. You too can achieve the flow. When you do, you will crave the feeling of the flow again. It is a good feeling, one of complete and utter understanding of what you are doing and where you are going with your source code. You can do amazing amounts of programming while in the flow.

The Stages of Flow

Like sleep, there are stages to the flow.

Getting Situated

The first stage. You sit down at the computer and adjust your keyboard and stuff around you. Take a few deep breaths to help you relax. By now you should have a good idea of how to proceed with your coding. If not, you shouldn t be sitting at the computer.

Restlessness

Second stage. You may find it difficult to clear your mind of the everyday thoughts that block your creativity and energy. Maybe you had a bad day at work, or a great day. Perhaps your spouse or significant other is being a complete jerk! Perhaps he or she is being especially nice and you are wondering why.

Close your eyes, breathe deeply and regularly. Clear your mind and think of nothing. It is hard to do at first, but with practice it becomes easy. When you can clear your mind and free yourself from distracting thoughts, you will find yourself ready to begin coding.

Settling In

Now your mind is clear. Non-productive thoughts are tucked neatly away. You begin to program. Line by line your program takes shape. You settle in, and the clarity of your purpose takes hold and propels you forward.

Calm and Complete Focus

You don’t notice it at first, but at some point between this and the previous stage you have slipped into a deeply relaxed state, and are utterly focused on the task at hand. It is like reading a book and becoming completely absorbed. Someone can call your name, but you will not notice. You will not respond until they either shout at you or do something to break your concentration.

You know you were in the flow, if only to a small degree, when being interrupted brings you out of this focused state, and you feel agitated and have to settle in once again. If you avoid doing things like getting up from your chair for fear of breaking your concentration or losing your thought process, then you are in the flow!

Be Extreme

Kent Beck, in his book Extreme Programming Explained, describes the joy of doing really good programming. The following programming cycle is synthesized from his extreme programming philosophy.

The Programming Cycle

Plan

Plan a little. Your project design should serve as a guide in your programming efforts. Your design should also be flexible and accommodate change. This means that as you program, you may make changes to the design.

Essentially, you will want to design to the point where you have enough of the design to allow you to begin coding. The act of coding will either soon reinforce your design decisions, or detect fatal flaws that you must correct if you hope to have a polished, finished project.

Code

Code a little. Write code in small, cohesive modules. A class or method at a time usually works well.

Test

Test a lot. Test each class, module, or method either separately or in whatever grouping makes sense. You will find yourself writing little programs on the side called test cases to test the code you have written. This is a good practice to get into. A test case is nothing more than a little program you write and execute in order to test the functionality of some component or feature before integrating that component or feature into your project. The objective of testing is to break your code and correct its flaws before it has a chance to break your project in ways that are hard to detect.

Integrate/Test

Integrate often, and perform regression testing. Once you have a tested module of code, be it either a method or complete set of related classes, integrate the tested component(s) into your project regularly. The objective of regular integration and regression testing is to see if the newly integrated component or newly developed functionality breaks any previously tested and integrated component(s) or integrated functionality. If it does, then remove it from the project and fix the problem. If a newly integrated component breaks something you may have discovered a design flaw or a previously undocumented dependency between components. If this is the case then the next step in the programming cycle should be performed.

Refactor

Refactor the design when possible. If you discover design flaws or ways to improve the design of your project, you should refactor the design to accommodate further development. An example of design refactoring might be the migration of common elements from derived classes into the base class to take better advantage of code reuse.

Repeat

Apply the programming cycle in a tight spiral fashion. You will quickly reach a point in your project where it all starts to come together, and very quickly so.

The Programming Cycle Summarized

Plan a little, code a little, test a lot, integrate often, refactor the design when possible. Don’t Wait Until You Think You Are Finished Coding The Entire Project To Compile! Trying to write the entire program before compiling a single line of code is the most frequent mistake new programmers tend to make. The best advice I can offer is don’t do it! Use the programming cycle previously outlined. Nothing will depress you more than seeing a million compiler errors scroll up the screen.

A Helpful Trick: Stubbing

Stubbing is a programmer s trick you can use to speed development and avoid having to write a ton of code just to get something useful to compile. Stubbing is best illustrated by example.

Say that your project requires you to display a text-based menu of program features on the screen. The user would then choose one of the menu items and press ENTER, thereby invoking that menu command. What you would really like to do is write and test the menu s display and selection methods without worrying about having it actually perform the indicated action. You can do exactly that with stubbing.

A stubbed method, in its simplest form, is a method with an empty body. It s also common to have a stubbed method display a simple message to the screen saying in effect, Yep, the program works great up to this point. If it were actually implemented you’d be using this feature right now!

Stubbing is a great way to incrementally develop your project. Stubbing will change your life!

Fix The First Compiler Error First

OK. You compile some source code and it results in a slew of compiler errors. What should you do? I recommend you stay calm, take a deep breath, and fix the first compiler error first. Not the easiest compiler error, but the first compiler error. The reason is that the first error detected by the compiler, if fatal, will generate other compiler errors. Fix the first one first, and you will generally find a lot of the other errors will also be resolved. If you pick an error from the middle of the pack and fix it, you may introduce more errors into your source code. Fix the first compiler error first!