Worse is better

This is a less technical update, if you're not interested in my project musings keep calm and carry on. There will be a more technical update later today (if blogger ever comes back up). It's the start of the third week of coding now and my project is well underway. Now that I've gotten back into the Java state of mind and I have a few classes written I've noticed how much being a Python programmer had affected my coding style. To a Java programmer my library probably looks a little strange. Why did you make that a class? I'm asking myself this every once in a while. The answer: it seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm very used to the way Python works and all its idiosyncrasies. This is my first "big" Java project and it's been a really fun learning experience. While not as explosive as the Java robots (my first Java experience) I've definitely learned a ton and this project is probably going to be a lot more useful.

I'm a long time *nix geek and a big fan of the Unix philosophy. As such, when I'm developing any kind of software I tend to follow the Worse is Better philosophy. I take it to mean make sure the code works then make it pretty. That's the attitude I've had from the beginning of this project. If you look at the source on GitHub it looks a little ragged. I'm going back and refining things as I see fit, but I plan to leave the bulk of that until the end of the coding period or even after the project is officially over. The reason: I'd rather deliver something ugly that works well then something that's pretty but broken.