Even though I work as a programmer, I\'ve never actually been trained as one. Ev

Question

Even though I work as a programmer, I've never actually been trained as one. Everything I know is self-taught. As part of my continual process of self-improvement, I want to develop better habits/techniques. I'm wondering how most of you design your code before you actually begin coding? Right now, I write an empty program with all my methods and variables commented, and pseudo-code in place of blocks of logic. Do you guys have other tricks/techniques you can share?

Right now, most of my work is in client-side Javascript development but of course, these techniques should be global.

Explanation / Answer

The only thing which works for me is to work in very small incremental steps. Instead of working out the system on paper or in pseudo-code beforehand I let the system emerge. I know that sounds fancy, but it actually works.

Note that the refactoring step is incredibly important for this to work. If you skip it, you're gonna end up with a big-ball-of-mud.

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