Starting over means giving up alot

Sometimes a simple task in code can easily grow to several lines. If it is someone else's code, its common to want to recode it. You know things they don't know. You see a better way to reduce code. You forget about the things they know that you don't know. You forget about the time already invested in testing and troubleshooting the problem.

If you need a script to map a drive and rename it, how long would it take to write it? How long would it take to find the same code that has already seen production? I use that example because the task is simple. You could write that script in as little as 4 lines of code.

I did write that script. It started out at 4 lines of code. Now it sits at over 24. Those extra +20 lines came from the maintenance of the script. That overhead makes it more reusable, simple to use, and has solved the bugs that were only uncovered in production. Now that I write that, I'm not sure 20 lines is enough to handle all that.

But my point is the next guy will have this great desire to recode my script because it can be done in 4 lines of code. Starting fresh means that sometimes you give up all the research and testing that came before. Willing to repeat the same bugs that have already been solved. Willing to resolve all the same problems that have already been solved.

I should have found a script online, but I wanted to do it myself. Some lessons are worth learning yourself.

Walking the line

I close my eyes and I see a man walking a line. One step at a time over and over. Never changes direction. He has gone to far to turn back now. No distractions on either side. Nothing exists outside the line. The line is so defined that its a black line on white paper. He never stops, he can't stop, he does not see the end.

He knows that its a line. He knows that every line has a beginning and an end. Never questioning the details he knows. No reason to question the facts. Limited only by his own mind, he never discovers that the line has no end.

That the line he does see is only a piece of a much larger circle. He will forever be a prisoner of his own mind. Unable to escape the reality that only exists in his head.

I open my eyes and think to my self. Is this how I see the world.

Every problem is a nail

The full quote is "If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" and the original quote is "He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail." A quick search lead me to a entry on www.brainyquote.com that indicates Abraham Maslow is the author of that line.

This is why you expand your set of tools. Every new tool expands your skills and gives you new solutions to new problems. Sometimes a hammer is the exact tool you need. The better you know your tools, the more confident you will be in knowing that the hammer is or is not the solution.

I write code and I see how this impacts me all the time. I find it important to learn new tools. I also find it hard at times not to over use new tools. New tools are like a new hammer, you look for a reason to use it.

In the end, I know I should be bound by the tools I have. In some ways, I am. In other ways, I know the tool I need does exist. Even if I dont have it already, I know its available to use.

Without direction

Have you ever felt lost without direction? Not knowing where you are, who you are, or what to do? One day passes on to the next. the day shifts to night, time and time again. Yet nothing changes. Things stand still yet again as they have for days.

But what must change to give you direction? If nothing changes where can you get direction? If you are lost waiting for direction then you are not changing anything. Without change, direction will never come. You will be lost forever in and endless loop of nothing changing.

Direction is something you decide for your self. Waiting for direction is waiting for change. Without the first step on your own, you have neither direction or change. You will not know where you are, who you are, or what to do. You will feel lost without direction.

Lost but not forgotten

Why do pages get lost and grow old? Can a page once old become a new and an inviting page again? Will those that maintain it fail to do so? Is it doomed to once again grow old and dormant as it becomes lost and only seen by wondering eyes that themselves are lost looking for that something special in a place that is long forgotten?

Only time will tell us the truth and show us how long it can last even though we know that one day will come and all will be lost and forgotten and eventualy dissapear. It will first become hidden among so many other pages that time has lost and eventualy cease to exist as even the internet is finite and will clear its self of the clutter from time to time.

Evey once in a while

Evey once in a while one must step out and try something new. Ideas are nothing if you do not act on them. An idea that sits is an opprotunity for someone else. I have started trends and watch other implement ideas I had. Several ideas become fully working concepts and then fade away. Once I prove that it can be done, my mind looks to the next idea.

How do you decide who you are online?

My favorite username was created by someone else. So are my passwords but that is different story. I was an intern at a software company and KevMar was the username they gave me. If you look at my name, you can easily see how they came up with it.

What I like the most about it is getting to use it. When I google for KevMar, I see myself on the main results page 3 times. If you were looking for me, then you are at the right place. If you are trying to figure out who I am, then you will have to dig a little deeper.

Chances are you either already know who I am or saw some comment I made that linked back here. Either way, you are welcome here any time.