Welcome to the Lounge

W∴ Balboos, GHB1-Dec-20 9:28

1-Dec-20 9:28

Often, as I describe the problem or the vague plan of attack it seems to solve itself along the way. That was one good thing when (1) I was working in the office, and (2) there actually was (at least) a second developer around.

Oddly, still occurs if I'm typing the same mess into an email trying to describe the plan, the obstacles. and the options to remove/evade them.

Ravings en masse^
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

honey the codewitch1-Dec-20 9:53

1-Dec-20 9:53

Yeah that happens to me too. Usually right after I have emailed a client about it. 😭

Real programmers use butterflies

PhilipOakley2-Dec-20 0:23

PhilipOakley

2-Dec-20 0:23

It's send the email that usually unblocks the problem. The tension is gone and suddenly one is using all the right search words!

honey the codewitch2-Dec-20 0:59

2-Dec-20 0:59

Yes. This. Roll eyes | :rolleyes:

Real programmers use butterflies

W∴ Balboos, GHB2-Dec-20 1:28

2-Dec-20 1:28

Not search words - describing the problem in text (or verbally) somehow condenses it to something that offers options (or eliminates them, also good). If I were to blame it on any particular concept it would be the need to "crystallize" the problem instead of letting it float around as a nebulous adversary. I couldn't say how that improves things - or for that matter, if it's the path from one mode to the other that does it.

Or, maybe just flapping my gum?

Ravings en masse^
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

PhilipOakley2-Dec-20 2:10

PhilipOakley

2-Dec-20 2:10

I find that having managed to describe the problem, and plucked up the courage to send/post the query, that up re-reading the sent message, in a more relaxed state, some key phrase that I used can be searched for (OK so it's Google, but there are others).

Usually that search then comes up with a lot better answers, or at least clarifiers, for the problem.

Essentially it's a bit of Analysis Paralysis that stops one from 'seeing the woods for the trees' (or is that 'wood for the trees'?) while preparing the description, but once sent, the relaxation allows me to finally see the core part. It's that while the problem has been 'crystallised', it's still buried in the dirt of the broader message. The old 20/20 hindsight!

thewazz2-Dec-20 9:39

thewazz

2-Dec-20 9:39

can't see the forest for the trees.

davecasdf2-Dec-20 4:21

davecasdf

2-Dec-20 4:21

I think it's that you try to describe precisely, completely, what's - oh no, that's not quite right - ( and correcting yourself ) - and trying to give a clear explanation - and finding you were thinking wrong there or...
Yeah, examining both the overall and the details. And each part of the explanation you think about and correct as you give it.

( At least that's how my brain dis-functions. )

W∴ Balboos, GHB2-Dec-20 4:23

2-Dec-20 4:23

Not a bad description.

Ravings en masse^
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

Matt Bond2-Dec-20 2:16

Matt Bond

2-Dec-20 2:16

For a long time I've said that my superpower is that people ask me for help. Then, without me doing anything, the problem is solved. This was awesome when I worked a job doing desktop support via phone.

Now you've made me question if it was my superpower or the other people's.

Bond
Keep all things as simple as possible, but no simpler. -said someone, somewhere

W∴ Balboos, GHB2-Dec-20 2:20

2-Dec-20 2:20

Keeping it simple: who that someone was.[^]

Actually it was neither your super power nor theirs. Just a bit of 'runoff' from my super powers.

Ravings en masse^
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

Greg Utas1-Dec-20 9:15

Greg Utas

1-Dec-20 9:15

Get a rubber duck. Mine is an excellent listener and solves problems that I can't. Big Grin | :-D

Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

honey the codewitch1-Dec-20 9:54

1-Dec-20 9:54

Does a rubber chicken work? I could wave it over my code

Real programmers use butterflies

Greg Utas1-Dec-20 10:18

Greg Utas

1-Dec-20 10:18

I've never tried it, but the secret with a duck is explaining the problem in detail so that the duck can solve it.

Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

honey the codewitch1-Dec-20 13:28

1-Dec-20 13:28

Hmmm. I'm suspicious of ducks in general. I wonder if one wouldn't lead me astray.

Real programmers use butterflies

Greg Utas1-Dec-20 14:20

Greg Utas

1-Dec-20 14:20

The duck is your alter ego and confidant, so I doubt it!

Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

honey the codewitch1-Dec-20 14:30

1-Dec-20 14:30

Yeah I have one of those. It taught me to read at 3.

A shrink called it a "partially integrated identity" or some such, but they like to label crazy.

I just call it Scout. When it first came to me I didn't give it a name.

It's very helpful, and maybe where most of my intellectual and particularly my analytical heft comes from.

I bury it in the wiring for years at a time but it's still there doing stuff, I'm sure, because I don't get stupid when it's "gone."

Or maybe I'm just loopy. That's as likely. Whatever. It helps me code and build stuff. I like that.

Real programmers use butterflies

Daniel Pfeffer2-Dec-20 2:10

Daniel Pfeffer

2-Dec-20 2:10

The rubber duck is your familiar, mediating between you and the Powers that enable you to program.

At times the S/N ratio on the channel goes too low, so the Powers cannot get through. It is then that giving your duck some attention (and a small sacrifice, e.g. your firstborn...) can really pay off. Get on the wrong side of your duck, and you will program nevermore!

Big Grin | :-D

Is that "New Agey" enough, or should I insert some psychobabble as well?

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.

honey the codewitch2-Dec-20 2:14

2-Dec-20 2:14

Okay, I can make some sense of that. I would have pictured a cat though. I have a black one who is slightly cross eyed and whose tail and ears are too big for the rest of him. He is my familiar. What do I tell him? Sigh | :sigh:

Real programmers use butterflies

RandMan75572-Dec-20 0:55

RandMan7557

2-Dec-20 0:55

No, a real chicken is required

honey the codewitch2-Dec-20 0:58

2-Dec-20 0:58

HR warned me off of doing that again. Frown | :(

Real programmers use butterflies

willichan2-Dec-20 8:45

willichan

2-Dec-20 8:45

That just gets the Ernie voice singing[^] in my head.

Money makes the world go round ... but documentation moves the money.

Bruce Greene2-Dec-20 5:50

Bruce Greene

2-Dec-20 5:50

As I am perhaps one of the greatest developers of all time, I've never understood the Imposter Syndrome thing? Poke tongue | ;-P

In all seriousness, you've written some very cool stuff. How in the world could you ever doubt your competence?

honey the codewitch2-Dec-20 6:08

2-Dec-20 6:08

Thank you. Well I guess we all have a few failed projects under our belt. I can always count on the committee in my head to remind me of that. Laugh | :laugh:

Real programmers use butterflies