Artistic Programming

The seventh issues jumps to another level of our relationship: the interactive mode. There is a nugget of programming for you. Try it, if you can.

A Quick Word

Shall I share a little secret with you on why somebody you saw programming lightning fast was able to do that?

Not because he is extra-intelligent. We discussed this a lot in the last newsletter.

Consider this: suppose you are a slow walker and you take 30 minutes to walk from your home to your office. Somebody who walks very fast may take say 25 minutes. Or if he is really fast, may be 20 minutes.

To be able to cover this distance in, say 10 minutes, or 5 minutes, would you try to walk faster and faster?

All the information in the world can only add to our capabilities only a little bit.

In order to enhance our skills significantly, we need to "think" in a very different manner.

Here is one simple example to illustrate this. Try out this programming problem:

You have to implement a scoring system for Tennis. The only inputs provided are:

1) Name of Player 1, who serves first at the beginning of the game. This player starts the game from the left side of the code.
2) Name of Player 2

And then, on an ongoing basis, you have to input which of the two players get the next point–-this is indicated by "L" and "R", indicating whether the player on the left side of the court gets the point or the player on the right side of the court gets it. Remember, the players change serve after each game and they change sides after the first game of the match and then after every 2 games.

The system should maintain the exact score at each step and print it, such that the score of the player serving first is shown first.

For example, a sample of inputs and outputs are shown below. The value "1" is the input indicating that player 1 (Maria Sharapova) get the point and the string "Score: 15 - 0" is the output score at this point.

Maria Sharapova        (Note: Maria Sharapova will be at the left ("L" at the start of the game)
Sania Mirza
L        Score: 15-0      (Note: Maria Sharapova is serving first, hence her score is shown first)
R        Score: 15-15
L        Score: 30-15
L        Score: 40-15
R        Score: 40-30
L         Score: Game Maria Sharapova 1 - 0
R        Score: 0 - 15   1 - 0  (Note: Now Sania Mirza is serving first, hence her score is shown first. Also, since the sides would change, the player on the left is now Sania Mirza)

Thus, the system takes care of all the game and set scores as well as deuces, tie-breakers, etc., and maintaining who is on the left- or right- side of the court, etc. etc.

Watch out for the "magic pill" that will enable each and every one of you—no matter how good or bad you are at programming, no matter how complicated or easy you found this problem to be—to implement this entire program within minutes.

Artistic Programming will allow you to implement this entire program, working correctly and fully tested within 20- 30 minutes max. Even 10 minutes won't be a surprising figure, if you apply Artistic Programming.

The next newsletter will shatter a lot of myths that you might have about programming as a skill.

You will be surprised to realize that all those programs over which you have spent countless nights and weekends meeting your deadlines were a sheer, absolute waste, which you could have avoided if you put into practice some basic principles of Artistic Programming.

DID YOU KNOW?

What is a "Squeeze Page"?
In Internet and online advertising vernacular, a squeeze page is a Web page that contains information that would interest the marketer's targeted readers. Squeeze pages are designed to obtain a reader's name and e-mail address information by encouraging users to opt-in to an e-mail list to receive more information about the topic. Marketers will collect the permission-based e-mail and information to follow up at a later date. Currently, there is still some debate over the actual definition of a squeeze page. Some consider landing pages that offer additional hyperlinks to information as well as e-mail opt-in list sign-up to be a squeeze page, while others in the industry believe only those pages containing just an e-mail sign-up are considered a squeeze page.

F-O-O-D For Thot!

Is life meant to spend countless nights, weekends and holidays getting that damn program working or fixing that stupid bug? Is all the stress that you go through to get your work done worth it? For what?
Programming can be real fun and very easy.

It is time you brought in tons and tons of fun and creativity to your work life.

A Quick Word

DID YOU KNOW?

Education is that which remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school and college.

Einstein

F-O-O-D For Thot!