tips needed; dealing with mental block while coding

[Alex Beamish]

On 3/26/07, Madison Kelly <linux-5ZoueyuiTZhBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
>    I've only been coding for three years, so I am far from an expert. In
> that time though I've found a definite pattern and I am wondering how
> common it is.
>
>    No matter how eager I am on a project, I run into these "blocks"
> where I lose all motivation. I try to push myself to code but
> inevitably, and often quickly, I just end up doing something else. I
> chide myself, try to get back at it, then drift off again. After a few
> days usually I am back into the swing of things and I can code morning
> to night without stopping.
>
>    So first; how much does this happen to others here?
>
>    Second; when it does, has anyone found a way to get themselves back
> on track?
>
>    Thanks for any tips... Now I'll go back to trying to work again :)


I broke my leg in January '93 playing hockey. This meant I was stuck at
home, after working as a C developer for over ten years.

I didn't have a computer of my own, and reading books and watching TV got
boring really fast. I started to imagine how I would write my own version of
runoff, and what features I would add. I itched for a keyboard.

Eventually a buddy of mine took pity on me lent me a spare computer of his
(probably a 386/25), and I was able to install Borland's Turbo C and get
going on this project. I'd been away from a computer 3-4 weeks by then and
was aching to go.

In about nine days, I wrote hundreds and hundreds of lines of code,
implementing the features that I'd dreamed about. I rented a dot matrix
printer and scoured the manual for the escape sequences; I determined the
character widths by experimentation, and used micro-justification to
implement proportional spacing. I did sub- and super-scripting.

Once that initial burst was over, I tinkered with this and that piece of
code, but I always remember how *not* writing any code for a while made me
intensely productive.

-- 
Alex Beamish
Toronto, Ontario
aka talexb
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