Never forget the stupid solution

If there is anything the last project taught me, it is to not declare variables on the heap if it is not required (see my previous blog post), and to always make a stupid solution first. A stupid solution is simply the quickest and least complicated way to solve a problem. Before going to attack a problem with guns blazing, it is always better to get to know the problem a little first. A lot of times programming I feel like the problem at hand is always some kind of opponent, and taking necessary preparation and precautionary measures is imperative if beating the opponent is something to be desired.

In my particular case, the failure to create a stupid solution resulted in a lot of pointless work between me and my partner. Now that the project is done, I am finding more and more that had we chose to create the simple solution first, it would have decreased the time spent on the project by > 10 hrs, possibly more. We went into a fight with guns blazing, throwing classes, linked lists, and structs at a problem that required nothing more than a few arrays. As I stated in my previous post, we still learned quite a bit about constructors, destructors, and the creation of linked lists in c++.

Sure, it is always nice to try and be fancy, but being fancy does not always get you the grade, or get you the job, or let you keep your job. Dr. Downing stresses on every project the importance of making the stupid solution first. Now that I have seen firsthand the consequences of failing to do so, the creation of a simple solution is now on my checklist for solving programming and other problem solving problems. After the creation of the simple solution, it was only a few tweaks away from the final product (albeit a few very thought-provoking tweaks) and ended up being a much shorter and understood solution than what we had before.

I encourage everyone to do the same. It might seem at first to only waste time in getting to the final solution to a problem, but like I said, the battle can be better fought if you get to know the opponent a little better first.