Heuristics on the Practice of Programming

A Living List

What follows is a living list of heuristics I've come to internalize over the years as a developer. My goal is to periodically add to this list. Consider it a repository of programming wisdom. If you have something you'd like added to the list, feel free to comment and I may update the list ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ If you disagree with anything on the list, let's fight it out in the comments. I believe in respectful, healthy debate on the open marketplace of ideas. If you find any of these nuggets to be a paraphrase or quote from someone of note, let me know! I'm not interested in plagiarizing, just sharing.

Sagesse

• No matter how many alerts or people are screaming at you, the first step is to reliably replicate the bug.

• Functions should do one thing.

• Everything in software development has already been invented.

• Don’t trust the compiler. Don’t trust the tools. Don’t trust the documentation. Don’t trust yourself.

• We don’t need any more computer languages.

• Maintaining code is harder than writing it.

• Do not overload your working memory. Protect it, keep it focused only on the task at hand if possible.

• You have been taught to program as though memory, processor time, and network bandwidth are all free and infinite: none is.

• "We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%." -Knuth

• You’re going to forget what your code does in a few months: make it easy to read.

• Sometimes, all you need is a one-liner in sed

• Beware of programmers who speak in absolutes. Programming is an art, not a religion.

• If you know you will do a fixed sequence of steps more than ten times, automate it.

• Backing it up is one thing. Restoring it is another.

• "Just because it works on your machine does not mean there is not a bug." -Piers Sutton

• Wait for the point-one release of development tools before installing them. Let other people be guinea pigs.

• Good programmers write good code. Great programmers write no code. Zen programmers delete code.

• Lock in on one task and focus on completing it quickly and correctly, to the exclusion of all others. Every successful person does this.

• Don't memorize commands or syntax; memorize concepts. Concentrate on problem solving.

• When really stuck, go beyond questioning the code: question your assumptions about what the code does.

• When you get overwhelmed by using new software just remember that you simply have to learn its API. Understand what it does, then learn its interface.

• Ask yourself how hard your code will be to change later. Remember code is cheap.

• "After you have left, remember to look back into the abyss." - Douglas Crockford

• Almost everything rms has ever said re: proprietary software.

(▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)