Learning to Program

Identify and Create Constraints

As you design your software, you need to recognize the limitations and constraints of the system within which you are working, and you should set your own constraints. You learned the importance of setting standards in Chapter 9, “Programming Standards.” By setting standards, you are setting constraints, saying that not everything is okay—even if something is possible, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. For example, the first version of kittenbook completely wiped out everything on every page on Facebook, and what a terrible experience that was. It was helpful for teaching and was kind of cool, but it was still a really bad experience. A good self-imposed constraint to help prevent this sort of bad experience ...