Foreword

Experienced software developers know there is more to coding than coding itself. Yet, academic curricula still seem to focus almost exclusively on algorithmic theory. At least mine did! Good academic curricula sometimes include some course on complexity and parsing tools such as lex/yacc.

This blog presents my way of developing software. I slowly matured this method through lots of errors and experience in the coding trenches. And I now believe it allows me to produce quality code most efficiently.
Rather than reminding you of the 37 different sorting algorithms, I will talk about rules, methodology and tools:

• Rules direct work. They limit freedom yet show the general direction. Good programmers love discipline. For instance, they emphasize on limiting code size, and do not fear syntactic restrictions put on the programming language they work with.
• Methodology structures daily work. Even though, it seems impossible to estimate the duration of any large coding task beforehand, following a methodology allows to track progress. It also relieves the stress of deciding what to do next.
• As for tools, there is a French saying that goes "à méchant ouvrier point de bons outils", which translates as "the bad workman always blames his tools". In contrast, not only have good developers quality tools, but also the tools actually improve their work by shaping their thinking and actions.

Dear reader, I hope you find the posts in this blog concrete, relevant and practical. While writing them I am also eager to hear from you. I am interested in your opinion, the improvements you see or the way you would rather do things...
By the way, did you learn any of the following topics at school: test-driven development, non-regression testing, unit testing, source control software, refactoring, software design or coding standards?
If you are a computer science teacher, do you teach any of these topics? If not, why?

Above all, with these writings, I would like to share my passion for the craft of programming!