Moving a File

[Marielle Lange]

>> That would be great. Thanks :-)
>
> No problem, but don't you really think this is silly?

Since I became involved in software development myself, I came to  
think that no, this isn't silly at all.

Take this little game:

<http://www.widged.com/portfolio/index.php?entry=Images/games/ 
kytoto_geometry.jpg>

This was done in a bit of a hurry to meet a deadline (they were  
announcing a competition and this stack was to help persons create a  
graphic for that competititon).

Somebody made me very valuable comments on how I can improve it.  
Implementing the comments wouldn't take me more than 1 hour of work.  
But implementing these changes won't bring me any direct benefit. So,  
it's not on the top of my priority list. If I was doing just that,  
rapidly react to some input I receive, I would never be finishing  
anything that is on top of my priority list. The comments have been  
written down in a log book and will stay there until I have time to  
dedicate to this project.

*Everything* is systematically written in my log book and/or some  
feature and bug tracking web-based software similar to Bugzilla. It  
takes a bit of discipline, but I find it a far more efficient way to  
go than act on the spur of the moment. Another advantage of keeping  
everything written down is that once or twice a year, I can run an  
analysis of the problems that have been reported (along with the time  
of notification and the time for fixing them). Reflect on them and  
rethink my strategy or my work habits.

In a book on successful work habits that point was made very nicely.  
It went something like this. If you take a vase and a bunch of  
stones, all of different sizes. If you try and put the small stones  
first, then at some point you won't be able to put the big ones in  
anymore. However, if you go the other way around, start with the big  
stones, you would be surprised at how many stones you can put in your  
vase.

> then finally (if we are lucky) it *might* get fixed!

If you want a faster route, here is what I propose. I made available  
a library of file processing functions at: <http:// 
revolution.widged.com/libraries/lib_fileprocessing_v0.3.txt>. I  
recently fixed various problems with the documentation of each function.

As you can see, the "rename" function is marked as "TBD" (to be  
done). If you provide me with the function of your dreams as well as  
adequate documentation for this function, I will add it to that  
file :-).

And if you come up with suggestions on how to improve the function, I  
promise, I will write them down and take them into account... but  
probably not act on them immediately ;-).

Best regards,
Marielle

------------------------------------------------
Marielle Lange (PhD),  http://widged.com
Bite-size Applications for Education