Programming is like sex.
One mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life.
Michael Sinz
On Friday, I was stuck with a programming problem. The problem is not that important, something about how to assess a user’s performance and store that data for individual feedback. Suffice to say, I got stuck, tried out a few approaches, one more complicated than the next, and all deeply unstable when it comes to possible future changes in the App.
So I called it a day, went home early and spend the weekend doing other things (more or less, currently programming a task manager which deserves the name).
Today, I took a look at the code I was stuck with and in a split second I had the answer — or rather an answer, a working one. Just appeared right before my inner eye. It involves the use of an object I already used instead of copying it, as said, not important.
What is important is that it was a very good idea to stop on Friday, do something else and revisit the problem later. If I had not done it, I would have run repeatedly against the wall and probably began to hate the App I am working on (more than I currently do). Instead, implementing the code changes today was a joy — more than a joy … combined with listening to “The Messiah, HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus” by the London Philharmonic Orchestra on new studio-grade headsets (I’m definitely not a Christian, but it did fit the occasion) … it made it a programming moment to remember.
Have a great week. 🙂
