Pseudocode to Success
When I had a vision of something that I want to create my instinct was to jump into an IDE and drum something up, especially because as I developed Full Stack skills I have felt more confident in my ability to code anything I imagine. This was an instinct that I quickly learned to ignore. Although I like a challenge, I have come to appreciate the planning process and what it offers. Now my instinct is to map everything out and look for any detail that can trip me up.
I use pseudocode in two ways: a way to map a general overview of files and how they communicate, as well as in a more specific way of detailing code and it’s purpose. Doing this gives me clear direction of what I have to accomplish when writing code, and in the long run seems to be the most efficient way of producing work. I pseudo-code in every project I create. I’ll share a story that may encourage you to do the same.
I just finished a project with a group of people and we spent a good amount of time pseudocoding before we got to the IDE. I was insistent we hashed out every detail to minimize the problems we would face after we split up and started coding alone. We structured all our databases, we figured out all the routes we would need, how our back end would communicate with our front end and discussed in detail what we wanted the front end to look like in terms of UX/UI. I left with the confidence that we were on the path to success.
When we split up I spent time figuring out specific functions. I detailed what their purpose would be, how I could manipulate them to give the necessary information, and potential problems that could arise. There were a few bumps along the way but this was a relatively smooth process given how much effort we put into the pseudo-code process both on a group level as well as on an individual level.
I cant stress enough how valuable it has been to resist the temptation to jump into an IDE and start coding. Pseudocoding is a very valuable step and I hope sharing this story gives insight to how my team and I used it to our advantage and it encourages you to do the same.