K. Sabbak

There have only been like two instances ever in my very short life in programming where I have tried writing in a code base that I haven't contributed to from the start. The first time was a sort of open-source volunteer group thing and I still don't understand a single thing that is happening in that code base, though I managed to modify an API call enough to contribute to a ticket.

The second one was just this week where I got to pair with someone who has been working in that code base for about a year. I'm not sure how much I contributed, but if I had to pick a project to work on right now in order to save the world or something, it'd DEFINITELY be that one.

My first programming class was when I was 17. It was also my teacher’s first time teaching a programming class. It was in Java and we used a library called Karel J. Robot, which felt like it was aimed at much younger kids, and I remember having a hard time matching what I was learning from the separate textbook and what I was building with Karel J. Robot. I also remember that a lot of my classmates were taking the class because they knew they’d be able to play games online for a whole class period. What I’m trying to say is that it was not the best programming class ever.

Whether or not I learned Java is a little unclear, but what I did learn is that programming was interesting and powerful and I loved it. I also learned a second lesson, which took much longer to surface, but that was that you don’t have to be an expert to teach something. That even just knowing enough can make a huge difference and change people’s lives.

I've always heard of the philosophy that comments aren't a great idea in code. I knew the reasons, but I didn't want to believe. Something about comments just really appeal to me. They're like a little secret message -- and who doesn't love secret messages? But in the face of Robert Martin's arguments from Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship, I think I'm finally ready to cave.

The argument I have always heard for no comments is that code has to get updated but comments don't, which means they often are wrong. Of course, my brain immediately responds with "Well, not me. I will always update the comments". I know this is objectively false. So I grumble about it a little and try to avoid using them a bit more than I had. But not entirely. Because secret messages!

I’ve spent a good chunk of time refactoring recently. It’s taught me a lot, mostly on code structure and good design but also about myself and my working style. I’m not sure if I’d count as a kinesthetic learner, after all, I’m really bad at Sports, but my favorite refactoring tool is my printer. I’m pretty sure this also makes me a bad millennial (for owning a printer at all…).

I'd like to think I work better with music on, but I haven't actually tested this. After all, lyrics can be very distracting, new music tends to draw my attention. I had been working mostly with Spotify's Brain Food playlist, but lately there have been three or so songs that just... talk and it was driving me crazy. "Did you hear about the story about the Russian cosmonaut?" (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

The other day I read an article (who knows which one) that just casually threw out there that listening to one song over and over again increases focus and creativity. There were no links to any research to support this, but I liked the idea so I figured I'd see how it worked for me.