Punky said:
Thank you- wehre do I find "the wastebasket"?
You're kidding, right? It's usually under your desk. ;-)
My aphorism is a way of saying that one's first, second, or
even third idea is seldom the best idea--a full wastebasket
is a good sign that a fine design may emerge--while an empty
one is a harbinger of a poor design.
We sometimes say that "designs are like waffles, you have to
throw the first one away", but in my experience, it takes more
than one to get to the sweet spot.
The problem is that by the time someone has spent thirty minutes
thinking about a solution, and written a page or so of code, they
have made a hundred little decisions (data widths, identifiers, etc.)
and have formed an emotional committment to the design, even though
it should be thrown out (or at least set aside ;-) to have another
try "knowing what you know now".
-michael
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."
