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Subject: Re: The key to improving a program - a summary

Author: Pat King

Date: 13:45:34 05/26/04

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On May 25, 2004 at 17:44:55, Andrew Wagner wrote:

>Here's a
>quote from one of Bob's posts,
>
>>develop
>>a methodology
>
>This is a fantastic point.

Yes it is. You've got many responses from people of many different levels. I see
three common themes.

0) Test. Test. Test. I shouldn't have to say it, but I do. I made SO much more
progress once I embraced thorough testing.

1) Automate. Your make process should include your test process. Even if you
only do this, you've got yourself a methodology. Bob mentions that he even has
his profiling tests built into the make process. I'm not that far, but like him
I have problem sets that automatically get run whenever relevant code gets
changed. Look at "design by contract" and "extreme programming" ideas on what
and how to test, and how to automate those tests.

2) Source Control. Ok, I didn't see this theme in the other posts, but it should
be another "0)". The amatuer programmer doesn't think he needs it, but if all
you have are manual backups (you do back up, don't you?) then you WILL neglect
to back up something you later decide you really need. Source control automates
the backup process, and lets you unwind the development process EXACTLY to the
point you screwed everything up. There are free tools out there, and they're not
hard to use. USE them.

The voice of experience, and yet it seems a perpetual newbie.

Pat King



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