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Karl Beecher - Bad Programming Practices 101: Become a Better Coder by Learning How (Not) to Program

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Karl Beecher Bad Programming Practices 101: Become a Better Coder by Learning How (Not) to Program
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Bad Programming Practices 101: Become a Better Coder by Learning How (Not) to Program: summary, description and annotation

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This book takes a humorous slant on the programming practice manual by reversing the usual approach: under the pretence of teaching you how to become the worlds worst programmer who generally causes chaos, the book teaches you how to avoid the kind of bad habits that introduce bugs or cause code contributions to be rejected.

Why be a code monkey when you can be a chaos monkey? OK, so you want to become a terrible programmer. You want to write code that gets vigorously rejected in review. You look forward to reading feedback plastered in comments like WTF???. Even better, you fantasize about your bug-ridden changes sneaking through and causing untold chaos in the codebase. You want to build a reputation as someone who writes creaky, messy, error-prone garbage that frustrates your colleagues. Bad Programming Practices 101 will help you achieve that goal a whole lot quicker by teaching you an array of bad habits that will allow you to cause maximum chaos.

Alternatively, you could use this book to identify those bad habits and learn to avoid them. The bad practices are organized into topics that form the basis of programming (layout, variables, loops, modules, and so on). Its been remarked that to become a good programmer, you must first write 10,000 lines of bad code to get it all out of your system. This book is aimed at programmers who have so far written only a small portion of that. By learning about poor programming habits, you will learn good practices. In addition, you will find out the motivation behind each practice, so you can learn why it is considered good and not simply get a list of rules.

What Youll Learn

  • Become a better coder by learning how (not) to program

  • Choose your tools wisely

  • Think of programming as problem solving

  • Discover the consequences of a programs appearance and overall structure

  • Explain poor use of variables in programs

  • Avoid bad habits and common mistakes when using conditionals and loops

  • See how poor error-handling makes for unstable programs

  • Sidestep bad practices related specifically to object-oriented programming

  • Mitigate the effects of ineffectual and inadequate bug location and testing

Who This Book Is For

Those who have some practical programming knowledge (can program in at least one programming language), but little or no professional experience, which they would like to quickly build up. They are either still undergoing training in software development, or are at the beginning of their programming career. They have at most 1-2 years of professional experience.

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Karl Beecher 2018
Karl Beecher Bad Programming Practices 101
1. Learning to Program
Karl Beecher 1
(1)
Berlin, Germany
Objectives
In this chapter, youll learn:
  • How to mess up your approach to learning programming
  • Poor ways to choose your tools
Introduction
This chapter starts things off by discussing how to learn programming and gather your tools in preparation for writing code.
Naturally, since you want to be a bad programmer, it tells you to make a mess of these tasks.
Bad Ways to Learn Programming
If you choose programming as your career, youll probably never stop learning. Software is a fast-moving field. Radical new tools and advances come along more often than Stephen King books.
This section will show how you can scramble around trying to learn programming while taking in barely a thing.
Take a Pass on Practicing
Your Spanish teacher always told you that youd never learn the language by reading it from a book. Practice, practice, practice, they told you. Its the only way youll learn to speak a foreign language.
But everyone knows that programming languages and spoken languages are different, right? Surely, just like math or science, you can learn programming by reading it in a book (God knows there are enough programming books). After all, you didnt learn Newtonian mechanics by building a giant centrifugeyou learned formulas from a textbook.
In short: read the programming manual but ignore the Exercises section.
Thumbs Down!
Actually, it turns out that learning Spanish and learning a programming language are somewhat similar, specifically in that book learning needs to be complemented by practice.
Teachers and students alike testify that practical approaches to learning programmingsuch as participating in quizzes, performing textbook exercises, or doing courseworkare extremely helpful when learning (Lahtinen et al., 2005). Just like foreign-language speakers, experienced programmers preach the same advice: if you want to get good, then practice!
Theres just something about practical application that helps make what we learn stick with us in the long term (Dunlosky, 2013). A book can tell you what a variable is, a lecturer can show you how a for loop works , but to really come to grips with programming, you need to write your own programs.
Benefits include the following:
  • Long-term retention of knowledge is improved, making it less likely youll forget stuff.
  • Youll habitually make fewer mistakes.
  • An easier grasp of the underlying principles of programming is achieved.
Avoid Inspiration
In spite of the previous advice, you might find yourself wanting to practice your programming skills. If you dont have the self-control to resist these urges, then the question arises: what form of practice should you choose?
Whatever you do, dont waste any time being choosy or imaginative. Just grab the first exercise you can find, preferably one that deals with a topic that doesnt interest you.
I say this because when you start to think about what youd like to build, theres a risk that you will become inspired, and inspired is a very dangerous state to be in for those intent on doing badly. Its all too easy to get swept up by enthusiasm.
Thumbs Down!
Seymour Papert, a pioneer in both computer science and education, knew the power of inspiration. One of the central principles he championed was project before problem. This advocates letting your own interest direct your learning (Papert, 1996). Instead of being given formal problems to solve by someone else, he recommended you look inside yourself and come up with your own projects. Discover what interests you, what you would enjoy creating, and what would delight you to see built, even if just for the intrinsic pleasure of doing it. Working on something because it inspires you creatively is a powerful impulse, one that can disguise the fact that youre actually learning at all.
Be a Script Kiddie
Assuming you have a practice problem to solve, the next step is to formulate a solution, preferably a bad one.
Of course, youre not going to actually think about the problem yourself. As mentioned earlier, applying your knowledge risks increasing your retention and improving your skills.
Its far better to scour the web for snippets of code that solve the same problem. You can simply copy and paste them blindly and claim that youve written a solution. You might even succeed in convincing yourself that you really learned something.
However, if youre going to take this approach, then be careful. Its not as poor a practice as you might hope. In fact, many educators will encourage you to study good examples written by others, as long as you put in the effort to understand what makes them good. So, whatever you do, dont accidentally learn how the copied solutions actually function.
Do It Alone
A good way to slow your growth as a programmer is to learn alone. If you collaborate with other learners, you leave yourself open to the following risks :
  • Exposing yourself to other ideas and perspectives that can improve your own.
  • Reinforcing your own understanding by explaining the material to others.
  • Increasing your understanding by having material explained in terms youre more likely to understand.
  • Having a greater tendency to speak up and ask questions.
  • Gaining a taste of what a real team project is actually like.
Bad Ways to Choose Your Tools
Of lesser importance, but still worth consideration, is your choice of tools. This is important whether youre a beginner or a veteran programmer. There are many types of tools, just a few examples of which are featured in Table .
Table 1-1
Examples of Programming Tools
Type
Purpose
Examples
Programming language
Write instructions for a computer to execute
Java, Python, C++
IDE
Integrates many software development tools (e.g., code editor, compiler, and debugger)
Eclipse, IntelliJ, BlueJ
Source-code generator
Automatically write programs, usually requiring the programmer to fill in certain details afterwards
A built-in feature of many IDEs, such as Eclipse and IntelliJ
GUI builder
Build a graphical user interface via drag-and-drop instead of writing source code
Eclipse WindowBuilder, IntelliJ GUI Designer, Qt Creator
Version-control system
Manage the history of changes made to files in a software project
Git, Subversion, Mercurial
Code review
Submit code to be inspected and approved by colleagues
Gerrit, Review Board
Choose Inappropriately While a Beginner
We all have different levels of understanding, and so different tools can serve each of us better at any one time. As a beginner, youre still learning a lot, and learning is a balance between not being overwhelmed on the one hand and being challenged on the other.
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