TITLE: Desks, Code, and Breaks
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: December 29, 2009  2:45 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I've been enjoying time away from the office,
classes, and even programming for the last
week or so.  After a long semester, spending
time with my wife and daughters is just right.

It also gives me a chance to clean up my home
office.  What I am doing today is effectively
refactoring: improving the structure of my
stuff without adding any new capabilities.
After this round of refactoring, I'll be
ready to bring some new furniture in and do
a couple of things I've been wanting to do
since we moved in last December.

I won't strain the metaphor any farther, but
I must say that my work day is a paradigm for
<A HREF="https://twitter.com/nothinghappens/status/6932665631">
   this tweet</A>
by former student, musician, and software pro
Chuck Hoffman:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
"don't have time to refactor now" leads to
"everything takes way more time because the
code is confusing." The time gets spent either
way.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

True of code.  True of papers piled high on a
desktop or stacked in the corner of the room.
In either world, you can pay now, or pay more
later.
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