LabVIEW Life Lessons #4 - Program Slow/ Debug Fast

[swatts]

Howdy Doody Developer Chums,

Keeping the output coming thick and fast, this article describes something I've been thinking about a fair bit in the last few months.

First of all let's describe the nuances here. I don't really like supporting software (it's boring) and supporting software with a customer breathing down your neck is significantly more difficult than writing it in the comfort of your office. Some of my worst programming experiences are when something doesn't work in front of the customer and you just don't know why.

A large part of repeat business is based on how well the software is supported. Support is judged on responsiveness, the important criteria is how quickly/cheaply you find a fault or add additional features and get the hell out of the way.

So the thing I've been saying recently is that we program slow so that we can debug fast. In fact our whole way of working is debug focused, and this suits us. Fair warning, it may not suit everyone.

We invest a lot of time on our code, look here for proof.......

Rapid Modification and Debugging, Immediacy Presentation, I'm not being critical but... (Re-use) Part 1, A Tidy Project is a Happy Project even LabVIEW Life Lessons #1 - Project Portability

All of these are ways that we spend a great deal of time on our code, that has nothing to do with solving the problem and everything to do with making life easier down the line. In fact it could be thought of as technical overhead.

All of this work is us building our technical assets and paying down our technical debt.

So that when it matters our projects are easy to maintain. In fact all of this effort is so that we're not struggling in front of a customer!

Which will lead into my next L³ article

Lots of Love

Steve