TITLE: Don't Stop The Car
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: September 19, 2012  4:57 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I'm not a
<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique">
   Pomodoro</A>
guy, but this advice from
<A HREF="http://heydave.org/post/26317198789/the-timer-knows-best-why-i-love-the-pomodoro-technique">
   The Timer Knows Best</A>
applies more generally:

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
Last month I was teaching my wife to drive [a manual transmission
car], and it's amazing how easy stick shifting is if the car is
already moving....  However, when the car is stopped and you need
to get into 1st gear, it's extremely difficult.  [So many things
can go wrong:] too little gas, too much clutch, etc.  ...

The same is true with the work day.  Once you get going, you want
to avoid coming to a standstill and having to get yourself moving
again.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

As I make the move from runner to cyclist, I have learned how
much easier to <EM>keep</EM> moving on a bike than it is to
<EM>start</EM> moving on a bike.

This is true of programming, too.  Test-driven development helps
us get started by encouraging us to focus on one new piece of
functionality to implement.  Keep it small, make it work, and
move on to another small step.  Pretty soon you are moving, and
you are on your way.

Another technique many programs use to get started is to code
a failing test before you stop the day before.  This failing
test focuses you even more quickly and recruits your own memory
for help in recreating the feeling of motion more quickly.
It's like a way to leave the car running in second gear.

I'm trying to help my students, who are mostly still learning
how to write code, learn how to get started when they program.
Many of them seem repeatedly to find themselves sitting still,
grinding their gears and trying to figure out how to write the
next bit of code and get it running.  Ultimately, the answer
may come down to the same thing we learn when we learn to
drive a stick: practice, practice, practice, and eventually
you get the feel of how the gearshift works.
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