What kind of programmer are you?

Although I never generalize myself, people always ;-) like to categorize groups of people. For instance, you sometimes hear your can divide programmers into two categories. The first category transforms a given problem into nicely written code and doesn't stop until every line of code is checked, tested and documented. The other category solves the problem in his or her head, but gets bored quickly when they actually type the code.

It does not matter which 'type' you are, but you should know which type your are. Knowing yourself is essential when you want to be successful in anything you do. In this way, you can build safety nets around your weaknesses and create trampolines for your strengths.

Let me give you an example. In general, I'm not very good at remembering things. Ask me where I went on my last holiday and I will look at you with a glazy stare. Like most people I am better at recognizing than remembering. To tackle this weakness I design my code so I can use Code insight most of the time. That way I don't have to remember methods and variables, I only have to recognize them off a list. In a way, OOP further enables the use of Code Insight because you can create tree-like and therefore better searchable structure of your classes, methods, and variables.

In general, you, as a programmer, should create a programming environment which is exactly right for You. Taking your strengths and weaknesses into account. With your favorite customized editor, color-coding scheme, and keyboard shortcuts. So dive into your development environment and tweak the hell out those default settings. Default is sooo.... default.

Bart Bons houdt zich voornamelijk bezig met het ontwikkelen van business software, webservices en open standaarden.