Comments on: The Schizophrenic Programmer

By: Ped

Ped — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:46:36 +0000

Doing any one thing well, to the depth that you know you ought to be doing it to, requires sacrifice of something else. I learned this from being a parent, and that’s the easiest way to understand it: it’s not enough to simply pay for their food and shelter, put them in a good school system and not hit them – to do it right, you have to give them your time, which means taking time away from something else that you value. All parents intuitively know this to be true (even though we may try to convince ourselves otherwise with rationalizations).

The same principle applies to my life as coder: I can endlessly learn new technologies, or refactor my design, or broaden my perspective to gain a better viewpoint on the problem at hand: but at the end of the day, if I don’t come back down to Earth and put all these lofty realizations into practice (in time, and with a clear head), it works against my primary goal, which is to continually create effective software.

And the way to achieve this expand/apply balance is simple: if you observe at the end of each project that you’re less effective than the previous one, you’re doing too much expansion; so cut back. If you’re restless and feeling boxed-in by your current paradigm, you’re not doing enough: so ramp it up. In the end, it’s confidently adhering to your own self-evaluation (and not a blind faith in any what-have-you programming method) that will navigate you smoothly through the waters: you are your own gyroscope, embrace your own evolution.

By: justin

justin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:08:33 +0000

@Everyone: I guess it really struck a chord. Thanks for reading and all the great comments.

My poor slice was taking a beating, but I can confirm the Hyper Cache plugin really works…went from load of 0.2 to 0.02 instantly.

By: jon

jon — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 21:56:16 +0000

I say Shaun is correct. Embrace the insanity, feel it, enjoy it, learn to love it. While your conscious mind is floundering in the mud your unconscious mind is steadily filtering it. It will lead to an epiphany or two when you need it and perhaps enlightenment (or maybe true insanity – but it’s worth the risk i think).

Enjoy.

By: Ahmad Y. daoudi

Ahmad Y. daoudi — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:46:28 +0000

this is one of the best articles i visited this week, programmers should get rid of scientific progress, and think of profit and business and time management.

at the end it’s money what you get for your programming (pain)

By: David

David — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:17:16 +0000

Very interesting post - I have to agree with a lot of the points. One of the things that helps me on my journey to stay up to date on technology is to be active in local tech groups. This means my local Java User's Group, my local Open Web Application Security Group, my local Refresh (RefreshDC) group, and many others. And then to blog and share what I've learned and get feedback. Translucent Development is my attempt at sharing that with everyone and will hopefully evolve into a site where I put my collection of pointers to helpful things on various technologies, as well as maintain my own technology Wiki.

By: Robert S. Robbins

Robert S. Robbins — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 16:18:54 +0000

The only language you need is BASIC. VbScript for scripting, VB.NET for Windows applications and web development with ASP.NET, and VbScript for Office macros.

By: tim

tim — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:52:18 +0000

Really, you are dealing with the limitations of your body and brain. The brain and it’s function of thinking are analogous to muscles and exertion. So, just like when you don’t give your muscles enough recovery between workouts, over filling your schedule with thinking intensive tasks overall makes your brain power weaker. I think in terms of letting ideas and knowledge “percolate”. Also, things like “learn 1 x per year” just create another commitment that further tax your consciousness. Best to eat when your brain is hungry I think.

And check out Python and Zope. You’ll never be hungry again!

By: J.

J. — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:58:51 +0000

When I first started reading this blog entry, linked from reddit, I was not going to read it all because I had no idea why I was reading it to begin with. If I may be so bold to suggest, you could make it a little more interesting so you don’t lose the reader’s interest – because as it is it is also boring.

By: Hesham

Hesham — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:13:36 +0000

it’s Android ! … Keep up the good work ,man

By: René

René — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 12:03:46 +0000

Inspired read.

I haven’t quite reached the level of insanity you speak of, but I’ve definitely felt the effect, even working in just a few different languages on a regular basis.

I’m completely with you about depth versus breadth, but.. the flaw in your plan is obvious. New toys will always be more fun to play with than the old.

At least that’s why I often like to learn a new language or read up on a new framework. It’s just fun and satisfying learning something new.