Excellent programmers are often lazy, impatient and arrogant

The father of programming language Perl-Larry Wall said that excellent programmers are often lazy, impatient and arrogant. Because they are lazy, they write a program to save energy and prepare good materials so that they don't have to answer questions about the program. The impatience makes them want to write down the program to anticipate the needs of users. And because of arrogance, they want to write code so closely that no one can criticize them.

Excellent programmer often lazy?

However, great programmers are not productive people, and those who do everyday programming work are more productive than those who occasionally create these top lines of code. And most salaried programmers need more productivity. To optimize your ability to work, you don't need to be a great talent programmer, but practice yourself 7 habits below.

Write code at least 4 hours a day

If you just read through it, many people think that this is impractical because almost every programmer sitting in front of a computer screen at least 8 hours, even 10 hours a day. But Peter Nixey, founder and CEO of Copyin, said only a little time was actually devoted to the job.

“I have done many projects where programmers waste time for meetings, table tennis, lunch and other jobs. Therefore, 4 hours of real work, not interrupted by tea break is a rare thing in today's distracting workplace environment, ”he said.

The key to achieving the above 4 hours is to avoid interrupting while working. Because this is when your brain is in the working line, juggling variables that only need an interruption will take you hours to catch up.

Harmony with group culture

Being an integrated member with colleagues plays an important role to become a productive developer. This is even more meaningful than having an outstanding level of experience, according to Damien Filiatrault – CEO of Scalable Path's network of programmers.

According to him, everyone feels uncomfortable when working with complacent people who always think they are smarter than others. So no matter how talented your teammates are, the question is always, "Working with those people is fun?" Otherwise, this may affect the morale of the whole group.

But the problem lies not only in arrogant people. Developers who are "too good" or have certain personality traits that make the whole group feel uncomfortable can all affect the overall productivity. For example, many developers in some countries are afraid of conflict, argue or frankly admit they do not do a good job.

Write code in your free time

If you write code just because to get paid, it's hard to learn new skills and experience other areas. That's why Dave Child, Added Bytes's founder said, writing new code plays an important role for your own creativity. "The most talented programmers that I know have side projects to do," he said.

None of those talents reused the skills they were using in the main job to serve the side project. Instead, this is an opportunity for programmers to have the opportunity to expand, increase skills and update new technologies in areas they feel attracted to.

Learn to write sloppy code

Few projects need talented programmers to create "divine" code, most need a basic platform from which to build more basic features. Nixey said the best way to achieve that was to quickly write it down, build it up and continue working from there. Therefore, the code is sloppy, many iterations or naming is not too important. Code shows the solution direction and then, you can improve it better. If you try to be perfect from the beginning, the programmer may go too far, out of control, and the overall performance is affected.

Do not do a job for too long

One way to make sure you lose your writing skills is to work stably with a programming team for a long time, Child said. Because in this case, you have good control of everything, reaching the standard level of work and no motivation to improve yourself.

"You need to challenge yourself non-stop," he said. “If you work somewhere for a few years, you may have learned everything. So don't stay there, but keep looking for a new trial. ”

Non-stop learning

Software technology changes rapidly and continuously. This means that many of today's important code writing skills will be outdated tomorrow. So, if you plan to work long-term in the field of software development, keeping abreast of emerging trends and languages ​​is important.

“The simple fact is that you cannot work throughout the rest of your life with all the knowledge you have now that must be prepared to keep learning. What you know today does not guarantee your future later, ”said Todd Anglin, director of technology dissemination at software development company Progress.

He added, it is important to focus on what you really like instead of trying to be proficient in all areas. “You must have passion and desire to continue, but you must know where you want to know in depth. Don't try to understand everything, because it's impossible, stay focused and one thing and learn. ”

Write code for your area of ​​interest

Gregor Riegler, author of the blog Be a Better Developer, said that the decisive thing for you to focus on your work is to join really favorite projects.

Whatever the situation, “you need to really enjoy what you are doing and try to get the best results possible. If you find joy in that, you will write great code, ”he added.

Teachtalk via PCWorld