The Art of Programming
I recently read a quote by Donald Knuth in the book “Coders at Work” by Peter Seibel. Knuth stated
I’ve got thousands of pages and exercises, and I write it down and put it in the book so that I don’t have it all in my head. I have to come back to it and learn it again. And I have the answers to the exercises because I know that ten years from now I won’t remember how to do the darn thing and it will take me a long time to reconstruct it. So I give myself at least the clues to how to reconstruct stuff.
That statement was printed in 2009 by Seibel having interviewed Knuth who had been programming since 1956. Here are a few things I take home from this quote as it applies to my personal experience…
- You can’t remember everything and you will forget things you don’t use regularly
- Organize important things you don’t use frequently so you can find it when you need it again
- Write code as if you were going to have to see it for the first time…this helps others immediately, and yourself after the code is no longer fresh
- Using patterns can help you understand code after a long period away
- Keep code you have written when it doesn’t violate constraints of confidentiality or ownership…this may require you write code outside the office to assist you in organizing your learning
- Exercise your programming muscle daily
My grandmother finished her last crossword puzzle late into her 90s just before she passed away. It is my impression this exercise helped her to keep her mind sharp. She was never at a loss for the right word, nor had any difficulties with memories. Perhaps this same kind of mental exercise in our programming world will assist us as we continue to mature in software development.
I hope thise observations will encourage you as you perfect your craft as a computer professional. Share your thoughts below by adding to the discussion. You can always drop a note to btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
Featured Article(s)
Is There Anything Wrong with Being Complacent in Your Career?
Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG.org. This episode was about how to handle assignments that are beneath your grade. This article goes into more detail.
Featured White Paper(s)
Putting Data to Work for Mid-Market Companies
read more)