Preventative Programming Techniques: Avoid and Correct Common Mistakes (Charles River Media Programming)

The symptoms of Myopia are:

• Use of shortcuts rather than the more difficult but more appropriate implementation, leading to greater costs later.

To prevent Myopia:

• Consider future functionality and probable changes when determining the design for any part of the code.

• Consider risk management factors in your decisions, trading initial development time for future savings.

• Keep up to date about new software technologies and methodologies, trading learning time for improved development techniques that save more time in development.

To cure the effects of Myopia:

• When shortcuts and hacks are taken in the code, either by mistake or to meet a short-term deadline, then the code should be refactored to the more appropriate solution as soon as possible.

• If refactoring is complex and time consuming, consider the option of starting from the beginning again.

• Avoid crunch time as much as possible.