Think like a PROgrammer

Why should I ? What is a PROgrammer and how to think like one ?

My definition of a PROgrammer is a coder that aims to produce professional quality code. I don’t really care if it is for a hobby or profession. Titles are meaningless. Experience does not matter. It is a mental state.
There is no “one way to rule them all” but I think that we are able to recognize code that is not professional quality and it should be enough.
SW is getting bigger and more complex than ever, so we cannot (atleast should not) do code that is pain to work with. And if/when we do, we should fix it. Coding is much more than writing. Altho that is how the work is referenced. And to the people that do not understand the craft, that is what coding looks like.

Bad thing here is that you (and many others) might think that writing fast, will make you more efficient coder. I think that there is no significant difference. So even with a tight deadline you should not try to code fast.

Analogy time…
In some ways you can compare coding to orienteering. If you are bad with maps, but can run like hell, you might go fast, but it still takes a lot of time to get to the control point (Code like Forrest Gump?). Others can get there the same time using slower pace, but taking much shorter route. Also you might be smart and compromise the shortest route a bit and take one that is easy to follow. And now if you can jog the smart route and you can be the first one at the control point.

I think that it does not matter what language you use. If you want to make good professional code, you must concentrate to same things. There is no magic wand or common solutions for coding. Every project and team is (at least slightly) different and might need different solutions.

I believe that you should be in calm and focused mindset to do really good professional code. There is a controversy though. At first you are motivated and really driven to make things work and you don’t like to lose that part of the work, because this is where the learning happens. You also get motivated when you get something working.

I would like to separate professional coding to 2 parts. Prototype (or hobby) part where you learn and just make things work and Pro-part where you professionalize (is that a word?) your work. In practise it is not so black and white, but the point is more clear this way.

Because coding is much more than the actual code, I would like to think that tf you can do good code in one language, there is a strong chance that you are not doing bad code even when you are learning a new language..

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