How to understand any programming task Translated 100%

This day finally came. It doesn't matter whether you work on your first day or have worked for more than 10 years. One day there will be a task that you can't even understand.

What will you do at this time? Do you dare to pray for success? Or tell your boss immediately that you can't do it because you can't understand the task?

I think you know, neither is right.

I found that in programming and any other work, it is almost impossible if there is no task that you cannot understand for a week (sometimes even a day).

But don't worry! The good news is that you can not only solve this problem, but it may also be a good thing.

This means that you are expanding your knowledge and skills in some way.

Next, I will talk about how to link the knowledge needed to complete the task with the task requirements.

About 'Demand'

You may have noticed that the word I use is "demand", and its specific meaning depends on your working environment.

In experience, large companies like to put forward demands, while small companies sometimes "don't do demands". I think both of these situations are very consistent with our purposes.

This is because, as software engineers, everything we do is ultimately to solve problems.

You will receive a hundred page report on how to solve the problem (I once attended a meeting where I spent an hour discussing the text of the button). It may also be that your CEO gently walks up to your work station and asks if you can solve this problem before Friday.

Either way, you get a task. You must make sure that you have completely solved the problem, so that you can solve the problem correctly!

About Steps

Not every problem requires the steps given below. Only the most difficult questions may require you to carefully follow all the steps discussed in this article.

Many questions may not be answered through your needs or your personal experience.

You may need to ask other developers, your team leader, product leader, business analyst, or even your grandmother. Maybe you have to ask everyone when you finish!

That would be great. This means that you will use people's ideas and bring them together. The condensed product depends on you, and now you will be able to produce the best results!

Final warning before you understand the steps : Do not over formalize this process. The focus here is to help you quickly understand the problem. It should not create obstacles or red tape! Instead, it should provide you with a detailed plan to solve problems you do not understand.

Step 1: Task analysis

In this step, you should strive to understand that the task to be done is what, Instead of trying to judge Yes? Do.

The difference between the two is very important. It is dangerous to jump to the execution step without thinking about all the consequences, or even to fail to accurately understand the required task.

Task classification

Categorizing tasks means determining what kind of work you are doing to solve problems. Examples of task classifications are as follows:

• mismatch repair

• new function

• New applications

• Research tasks

• performance optimization

Please remember that the above examples are not all optional.

The purpose of classification is to determine what kind of work you will do category 。 This will directly affect what you do what , so it is very important.

This step is particularly important for vague requirements. For example, "after the website is updated, we need a method to clear the customer cache".

There may be several explanations.

1. You need to implement some cache clearing mechanisms immediately so that clients can always see the latest updates.

2. You need to study all the ways to store client caches and determine the best way to destroy these caches after each website update.

3. The client cache has been cleared. You need to find and fix the errors that prevent them from being cleared.

At this point, if you are not completely sure which meaning is used, you should ask for clarification before continuing.

State what the task is in a simple sentence or two

Summarize the complex requirements as if you were asked what you are doing today. It may not be that simple, but you should condense it to one or two sentences.

If you cannot outline a task, it may mean that you need to split it into multiple tasks. So essentially this step will be a litmus test to determine whether you have organized the task into small enough chunks.

A good example of the summary is: "When we update the website, we will attach a unique number to the file so that the browser knows that it needs to use the latest code."

This task passes the simple touchstone, you may not need to create multiple tasks.