Sunday, April 9, 2006 - Sun, 9 Apr 2006

I have many times spent several weeks planning my data structures on paper, trying to ensure they will handle all the different types of data that will come at them. But I have observed that no matter how good the planning, it is during the programming that the first set of complications arise. And then following that, when doing the testing, the second set of complications arise. I have struggled with this last data structure for several months, and it is the last one I need to implement so I can start making progress again towards the beta.

When planning reaches its limits and has gone as far as it can, it is the programming that needs to take over. I just work out each problem one-by-one, sometimes with the necessity of incorporating somewhat messy code. The code can be cleaned up later once everything is handled correctly, or it can remain as it is until future modifications are needed.

Now I’m not complaining. I’m just explaining. “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” is very true. I generally know where Behold is going, but almost always the specific details turn out different than I was expecting.

Actually, I’ve always found this programming experience fascinating - and exciting!

So I plug away, and I’m getting closer. Don’t know if April will be enough time to get through this part, but I’ll try.