Writing outlines for projects

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3748420

by dwong • 14 years ago

3 1 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

So I come from a writing background, and programming and writing have turned out to be very similar. I'm wondering how many of you write outlines for large projects, and how much time you spend on these outlines/how detailed these outlines are.

Do you write an outline in pseudocode, or an outline detailing the class/object relationships? Any insight or advice would be great.

read_wharf• 14 years ago

For single me code:

For anything at about a page or two, I just code and fix as I go. I may or may not have tests at first, and if I don't have any tests at the end it's because the thing is so short that it's its own test.

For anything larger I write/draw "thing diagrams" on paper, an informal way for me to think out loud. Thing diagrams might be just a list of things and what they do, or they might look like class diagrams, or mind maps, or combinations of all that. Each thing might have a word, or sentence, or paragraph. In some cases there might only be words and paragraphs. It just depends on random cosmic rays, and on how what I'm working on directs me to think.

For me as a team member, I follow whatever practices and lore the tribe follows. Usually there will be a larger design from a larger tribe member, and I'll do my part like a single me coder until I know enough about it to produce tribally approved practice and lore. Then I code, and correct my delivered practice and lore.

Writing outlines for projects

Related Stories