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Top-level
 oblique strategies for programmers 2: don’t worry about the tests, failure is subjective delete the framework, see what doesn’t break consider goat farming quack quack you’re probably using the wrong version of a dependency check it in anyway, it’s someone else’s problem now try and refactor it, then lose all your unsaved work in a kernel panic, it really gives you perspective. play zelda for a while, the solution will come to you upon collecting your 68th restless cricket 14 comments
@zens get stuck, argue with randoms about random stuff until the answer magic morphs into your neurons. getting some people who think this is a joke. No! I am entirely serious! let me explain. “Oblique Strategies” is a card deck by Brian Eno designed for getting him and his friends unstuck creatively, when they reach a creative block. Programmers get stuck too, and when we do, often it is because we have some unbreakable and unstated rule we’re holding in our heads uncriticially. We exclude a heap of solutions as “invalid” without trying them because we believe the solutions are not good enough according to some arbitrary standard. All the rules of programming are made up. mostly by white dudes looking to sell a seminar. If you can solve the problem and follow all of the rules you wanna follow? cool, good for you. this isn’t for you. but if you’re getting stuck because you’re hung up on an algorithm being suboptimal, even though it’s barely used? maybe let it go  @zens the number of times I’ve reviewed a pull request and approved with comments such as “this isn’t ideal but it’s got the job done and we need this out pronto” is pretty high. Sometimes good enough code is what’s required even when we endeavour for perfect. @zens THANK YOU for this thread there is so much Cargo Cult nonsense around programming a regex is only one problem spaghettify your code mix your concerns nest another loop don’t collaborate be imperative; the computer is just here to do your bidding oblique strategies for programmers 3: replace a hard problem with a much harder problem what would forth do? ask an expert in something other than programming rename all your variables after your children rewrite it from scratch in godot can you use the UI while you’re high? count your blessings, then curse twice that amount hilbert curves are neat. See if you can use a hilbert curve somehow. A Star is the wrong solution for this. GOTO considered helpful  @zens What if you didn't? Are you sure? How do you know? Defer the decision [e.g. last responsible moment]. Get rid of one thing. Take a shortcut. Relax an assumption. Code like nobody's watching. |
Gregory's Server
@zens I feel incredibly targeted here and not just because I've been taking Tears of the Kingdom breaks between pairing sessions.