So if you need to write a big, complex program, the best way to begin may not be to write a spec for it, but to write a prototype that solves a subset of the problem.
This is so true for me. And not just for big complex programs but also for anything not completely trivial.
The one (applicable to me) part of the joel test (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html) that I never made any progress on was having a spec.
I just couldn't do it whether through laziness, inability to concentrate or whatever. Actually it's been a bit of a guilty secret of mine.
Generally there'll be some part of the program that I'll be able to solve right away and while I'm doing that I'll be having ideas about how to do something else.
Later it might become obvious that a certain part would have been better done another way and if there's a serious benefit to changing things I can do it at that stage.
It's only after a lot of work's already been done that I'd be able to produce some kind of spec for the program
Having a spec that lays everything out beforehand is to me analagous to a mathematician writing the final proof of a theorem before doing all the thinking.
This is so true for me. And not just for big complex programs but also for anything not completely trivial.
The one (applicable to me) part of the joel test (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html) that I never made any progress on was having a spec. I just couldn't do it whether through laziness, inability to concentrate or whatever. Actually it's been a bit of a guilty secret of mine.
Generally there'll be some part of the program that I'll be able to solve right away and while I'm doing that I'll be having ideas about how to do something else. Later it might become obvious that a certain part would have been better done another way and if there's a serious benefit to changing things I can do it at that stage.
It's only after a lot of work's already been done that I'd be able to produce some kind of spec for the program
Having a spec that lays everything out beforehand is to me analagous to a mathematician writing the final proof of a theorem before doing all the thinking.