[thelist] programming info

Scott Dexter dexilalolai at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 19 15:16:53 CDT 2006


When you have a problem to solve, do you dive right into writing code, hoping the magic will, well, magically appear? --Have you tried taking pen to paper and diagramming out what you want to solve? Make a picture. Draw boxes and connect lines to them. Scribble and erase. Once you have laid out your process on paper, THEN start converting that into code blocks. If you want/need a formalized approach, UML is one (but really heavy and esoteric unless you live in it daily), but heck some simple flowcharting[1] will work too. My dad is fond of saying, "If you can't draw it, you don't know it." I think it applies more often than I realize....


[1]
http://www.google.com/search?q=flowchart


Hope this helps,
sgd



                From: "John DeStefano" john.destefano at gmail.com

However, I always seem to hit a 'wall' when it comes to learning how
to program or script. I understand the basics (what's a variable? why
declare a function? how do you print your name? etc.); I get the
difference between WHILE and FOR loops. But soon after reaching that
point, the code morphs into what seems like a different language and I
find myself just copying the code in a book, tutorial, etc., and not
really understanding the what, why, or how behind it, or, worst of
all, how to take what I just did and apply it to something I could
create and use on my own.








More information about the thelist mailing list