Critical Thinker

Lots of words/tips from Pragmatic Programmer (The Bible).

• Think! About your work!
• Remember the big picture, always!
• Dont live with broken windows, never!
• Make quality a requirement issue
• Provide options, dont make lame excuses
• Invest regularly in your knowledge portfolio
• Care about your craft
• Listen to Nagging Doubts - Start when you’re ready! (only when you’re ready!)
• Critically analyze what you read and hear
• Be a catalyst for change
• An Object should do only one work, and do your work as well
• Eliminate Effects Between Unrelated Things
• There are no Final decisions
• Use Tracer Bullets to Find the target (Seek and destroy!)
• Protoype to learn
• Program Close to the Problem domain
• Estimate to avoid surprises
• Iterate the schedule with the code
• Keep knowledge in plain text
• Use the power of shell script (oh i got the power!)
• Use a single editor well
• Fix the problem, not the blame
• Dont panic! x)
• select isnt broken!
• Dont assume it - PROVE IT!
• Learn a Text Manipulation Language
• Write Code That writes code (sounds awesome)
• You cant write perfect software
• Design with Contracts
• Code defensively
• Crash Early
• If it cant happen, use assertions to ensure that it wont.
• Use Exceptions for Exceptional Problems
• Finish what you start!
• Minimize Coupling between modules
• Configure, Dont Integrate
• Put abstractions in Code Details in Metadata
• Analyze workflow to improve concurrency
• Design using services
• Always design for concurrency
• Separate views from models (obvious)
• Use Blackboards to Coordinate Workflow
• Don’t code like an idiot, understand what you’re writing
• Constantly look for room for improvement and design
• Don’t Program by Coincidence
• Estimate the order of your Algorithms
• Always test your estimates
• Design to test
• Test your software, or your users will (worst!)
• Dont use wizard code you dont understand
• Dont gather Requirements - Dig for them!
• Work with a user to think like a user
• Abstractions live longer than details
• Use a project glossary
• Maybe it looks imposibble. But is it really as hard as it seems?
• “Seeing further”
• Dont think outside the box - Find the box
• Some things are better done than described
• Dont be a slave to formal methods
• Expensive too do not produce better designs
• Organize around functionality, not job functions
• Dont use manual procedures
• Test early, test often, test automatically!
• Find your own bugs, dont let the others find for you!
• Coding aint done til all the tests run!
• Use saboteurs to test your testing
• Test state coverage, not code coverage
• Find bugs once
• Treat English as just another programming language
• Build documentation in, don’t bolt it on
• Gently exceed your users’ expectations
• Sign Your Work