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Write a piece of code that works just fine and it's fairly extensible in 20 minutes.

Then proceed to spend the rest of your night rethinking and replacing said piece of code numerous times, with slightly more elegant code.

7 hours later and I'm still not done. Although a fine way to improve your skills, I seriously need to stop doing that for every single thing I write and start managing my time better. Got lots of other stuff I need to be working on...

Surely I can't be the only one doing this

Comments
  • 7
    I do this all the time.
    I am refractoring 50% of the time, thinking 25% of time and coding 25% of time.
  • 5
    5% code writing, 95% debugging
  • 5
    Seems like a case for the 90-90 rule: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
  • 4
    Ever met a Haskell/ lisp programmer? They're notorious for it, and as programming can induce OCD it's a widespread phenomenon.

    That being said, aiming for near perfection is a good thing. It just needs tempering... eventually perfecting becomes second nature and no longer takes so much time.
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