Do, as often as you can – it's that simple

I am reminded of the 'ultimate success formula.'<p>1. Figure out what you want<p>2. Take Action<p>3. Are you closer or farther away from what you want?<p>4. Re-adjust if necessary and GOTO 2 until you have what you want<p>edit: formatting and spelling

Totally agree. In fact, I've been wanting to get into game programming for a while. (Okay, my whole life.) But I never have.<p>The recent Ludum Dare competition has inspired me, though. Especially Notch's incredible entry and live broadcast of his programming.<p>So the first thing I set out to do was to practice. And by practice, I mean write games. My plan:<p>Write games. Lots of them. Every week until the next Ludum Dare.<p>It's the best way to improve.

This idea sounds really great until you start to "do" and have to suffer from all the failure, the time and energy you spend on doing that instead of other things you are used to, like with friends and family, at work or school. Just doing one thing for a long time is a f*cking lot harder then it sounds.<p>Btw. kudos to that mother who played CS and lost for so many times until she got decent enough to fight back. She definitely is way more resilient then I am.

It's an interesting article, but I think it's an oversimplification. In CS (the game), there's some strategy, but most can be picked up on the fly. There isn't a need to abstract away details, there isn't loads of theory that can help you make better choices. You're either more or less proficient.<p>I think the analogy breaks down for CS (programming). There are a number of concepts you won't likely grok without first reading them. A much better strategy is to read then do. Both are necessary, and you need a balance. All doing or all reading won't get you as far as a balanced approach. Programming is significantly more complex than playing a video game.

I agree with the OP, but I feel that there is something that is missing, especially re programming.<p>In addition to "do" there is also "practice".<p>Look at competitive sports, more time is spent practicing than doing, often breaking things down and practicing with an exaggerated level of formality.<p>I believe that this applies to coding too, intentional practice can be a coding dojo, or hammering out a couple more project euler problems, or a weekend project, but I believe that the best coders "practice" as much as "do".

Yes, do often. But also, not-do.<p>As Lao-tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching: "Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place."<p><a href="http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html" rel="nofollow">http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote...</a>

Just do it ...

What I am taking away from this is that he got his ass whooped on CS by his mum - everything else is irrelevant.

"There is no try, only do" - Master Yoda