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| The Programmer's Creed |
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Computer programming requires a certain mindset, and if you follow the programmer's creed you’ll get into that mindset early. There are four parts to the programmer's creed. |
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Part 1: I, [state your name], do solemnly promise that I will
read directions carefully and follow them. This is
extremely important, because much of computer
programming requires that everything be set up perfectly for
anything to work. When things don't work, many, many people
simply give up. They fail to become computer programmers
as a result. Don't let that happen to you. Don't give up - read
directions carefully. If something does not work, assume that
it's because you misread something and try again before you
blame someone else or give up. |
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Part 2: I, [state your name], do solemnly promise to read
the documentation and attempt to work out problems
myself before I go pestering someone else with
questions. This is a very hard thing to do at first because it
requires discipline. Nonetheless, get into the habit of trying to
solve your own problems by reading before you go find
someone and pester them with questions. The reasons this is
important are, first, because you will learn more that way, and
second, because you will gain much more respect that way.
There is nothing worse to an experienced programmer than a
whiney new programmer pestering you with questions that the
new programmer could have easily answered by reading for
five minutes. On the other hand, there is nothing more
rewarding to an experienced programmer than helping a
hard-working new programmer who has done a lot of research
and legwork but is truly stuck on a tough problem. Get yourself
into that "rewarding" category and you will earn a lot of respect
from the programmers that you work with.
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Part 3: I, [state your name], do solemnly promise that I will
help other programmers once I become one. It would be
almost impossible to learn to program unless someone
helped you to get started. You will read things written by other
programmers, use code created by other programmers, ask
questions of other programmers. You have to do your part by
contributing back to the community. Once you figure it out,
help others.
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Part 4: I, [state your name], do solemnly promise that I will
thoroughly document and comment my code. It will help
you write better code, and just as important, it will make it
much, much easier for other programmers to figure out what
you did – or meant to do – if they have to debug or maintain
your code in the future. |
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