IS IT WRONG TO ENJOY REFACTORING? I guess it’s essentially the same activity as

IS IT WRONG TO ENJOY REFACTORING?

I guess it’s essentially the same activity as knitting, sudoku and crossword puzzles. But it’s relaxing.

Sketch it in comments – it makes your work self documenting.

write the minimum necessary to make it work.

add error handling

extend the feature set.

now you have a working function, feature or application

make it pretty

refactor it until it’s the best it can be.

Philosophy follows the same process:

Draft an essay.

Edit and expand it for clarity.

Add defenses to all possible criticisms.

Add refutations of prior works.

At which point you have a book that addresses a single idea.

Add character to engage the reader.

Edit it for clarity, until it’s the best it can be.

The only real difference is that running unit tests on syllogistic statements can’t be automated. 🙂

(Yet.)