Konubinix' opinionated web of thoughts

Advice for Computer Scientists

Fleeting

  • by default don’t use sudo. Use it only when you understand why it is needed
    • in particular, don’t run “sudo pip install…”, but “python3 -m pip install –user…”
  • horizons of git commit,
  • follow the SRP,
  • DRY (don’t repeat yourself)
  • You will always have intuitions or hints about what to do next, particularly if you use a compiler that suggests changes to make (like rustc does very well). Take a step back, ask your système 2 and accept the cognitive effort of knowing why you do what you do.
    • Guess what is the most obvious cause of the problem you can think of.
    • try to prove that it is not that
    • failing to prove this, try to fix it then.
  • Very often, when debugging stuff, you’ll be anchored by the story one told you. Like « It worked yesterday and today it does not » and will generally go in the wrong path. The one that tells you this story might very well be yourself. Never trust even your stories and always double check them.
  • Face the fact that you will be wrong. There is no shame in that.