It's humbling to put your code out there for others to see (subtitled: Just another day of frustration...)
Category Software Development
Ok... so we have day 2 of my application that refuses to behave. I stripped plenty of stuff out that, on review, could have been a bottleneck. And twice we fired it up, only to peg the server at 100% again. Granted, it took longer to do so, but it was still not good enough to leave in production.
Phigment offered via Twitter to take a look at the code for a second set of eyes, and I just got off the call with him. Talking about feeling STOOOOOOOOPID! He quite accurately pointed out a number of potential troublespots (after I thought I had already gotten rid of them all), along with suggestions for change. This, coupled with something I brainstormed out with a user this afternoon, may well make this an app that will run like it *should* be running.
First off, my thanks to everyone who has chimed in and helped. It's great to be part of such a strong community of Notes-aholics who care and work with each other without expecting much in return, knowing that they too will need help some day.
And to another point that hit me even harder... It doesn't matter how long you've been coding and developing... You have bad habits. Having Phig dig into my code and ask "why" was rather embarrassing. I know I'm better than some of the things he found, but you're going fast trying to meet deadlines. You know you'll go back and clean up the repetitive code. And you never do. But it doesn't matter, as no one else will ever see it. Until you have to ask for help. I feel like I went from a 10 year developer to a 1 year developer repeated 10 times.
I need to dwell on this idea of seeking out code reviews from others you respect... For one, I don't want to repeat this week ever again, and two, I don't want to be that red-faced again. I've definitely been given my much-needed reality check.
Ok... so we have day 2 of my application that refuses to behave. I stripped plenty of stuff out that, on review, could have been a bottleneck. And twice we fired it up, only to peg the server at 100% again. Granted, it took longer to do so, but it was still not good enough to leave in production.
Phigment offered via Twitter to take a look at the code for a second set of eyes, and I just got off the call with him. Talking about feeling STOOOOOOOOPID! He quite accurately pointed out a number of potential troublespots (after I thought I had already gotten rid of them all), along with suggestions for change. This, coupled with something I brainstormed out with a user this afternoon, may well make this an app that will run like it *should* be running.
First off, my thanks to everyone who has chimed in and helped. It's great to be part of such a strong community of Notes-aholics who care and work with each other without expecting much in return, knowing that they too will need help some day.
And to another point that hit me even harder... It doesn't matter how long you've been coding and developing... You have bad habits. Having Phig dig into my code and ask "why" was rather embarrassing. I know I'm better than some of the things he found, but you're going fast trying to meet deadlines. You know you'll go back and clean up the repetitive code. And you never do. But it doesn't matter, as no one else will ever see it. Until you have to ask for help. I feel like I went from a 10 year developer to a 1 year developer repeated 10 times.
I need to dwell on this idea of seeking out code reviews from others you respect... For one, I don't want to repeat this week ever again, and two, I don't want to be that red-faced again. I've definitely been given my much-needed reality check.
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Comments
I had a day yesterday that I knew from the start was going to go bad. SWMBO blasted me first thing AM before my eyes were open and it went downhill from there.
Here's to a better day!
Posted by Curt Stone At 06:13:50 On 07/05/2008 | - Website - |
Remember, you never learn as much from your successes as you do from your failures.
Posted by Sean Burgess At 06:24:08 On 07/05/2008 | - Website - |
So far no one has replied, goignto blog it and see if anyone is interested in helping this guy out.
Posted by Keith Brooks At 06:32:49 On 07/05/2008 | - Website - |
That said...remember that even with crappy code, you should have a nice interface!
Posted by Chris Blatnick At 07:17:07 On 07/05/2008 | - Website - |