Advice for Putin re problem-solving methods
Sometimes Senior Statesmen types give advice to foreign leaders. Conceivably, a foreign leader behaving unwisely, could damage US national interests.
When I write computer programs that do cool things, I often face a choice: 1) write the piece of code from scratch; or, 2) refer back to previous programs I've written that do things similar to what I want to do now, and use those pieces of code that have already been written, build on them, modify them.
I find that sometimes I sort of proceed to re-invent the wheel, and choose option 1 when I should be choosing option 2.
This because: it is interesting to write the program from scratch; referring to reference materials when writing the program from scratch allows me to review such info; it is boring to have to sift through past programs and find the pieces of code that do things similar to what I need to do; I figure that I will be able to get the program done about as easily if I write it from scratch; I failed to download a good source-code search-engine (which would help me search through the source code in my programs) because there were too many options and too much controversy so I just gave up.
Whereas actually, the better alternative would be to choose option 2, search through my source code, find a piece of code that does something similar to what I want to do, and modify it. I end up choosing the inferior option 1 because I delude myself into thinking that the upside of option 1 outweighs the downside. I fail to properly value the time and mental energy that is saved by using option 2. I fail to recognize the value of allowing the mind to rest by doing something relatively simple such as searching through past code.
I suspect that the Russian President Putin, faces the danger of choosing the option 1 type approach (reinventing the wheel, doing everything from scratch in response to a problem) when instead he should be using an option 2 type approach (using modified forms of effective past solutions to similar problems).
When I write computer programs that do cool things, I often face a choice: 1) write the piece of code from scratch; or, 2) refer back to previous programs I've written that do things similar to what I want to do now, and use those pieces of code that have already been written, build on them, modify them.
I find that sometimes I sort of proceed to re-invent the wheel, and choose option 1 when I should be choosing option 2.
This because: it is interesting to write the program from scratch; referring to reference materials when writing the program from scratch allows me to review such info; it is boring to have to sift through past programs and find the pieces of code that do things similar to what I need to do; I figure that I will be able to get the program done about as easily if I write it from scratch; I failed to download a good source-code search-engine (which would help me search through the source code in my programs) because there were too many options and too much controversy so I just gave up.
Whereas actually, the better alternative would be to choose option 2, search through my source code, find a piece of code that does something similar to what I want to do, and modify it. I end up choosing the inferior option 1 because I delude myself into thinking that the upside of option 1 outweighs the downside. I fail to properly value the time and mental energy that is saved by using option 2. I fail to recognize the value of allowing the mind to rest by doing something relatively simple such as searching through past code.
I suspect that the Russian President Putin, faces the danger of choosing the option 1 type approach (reinventing the wheel, doing everything from scratch in response to a problem) when instead he should be using an option 2 type approach (using modified forms of effective past solutions to similar problems).
posted by David Virgil at 12:31 AM
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