This left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I see great value in single responsibility abstractions - they can improve readability (when looking at a single class that leverages them), and they can make components easier to test. On the other hand, I’ve coached a number of teammates over the years on SOLID principles and have continuously been met with push back or inappropriate abstractions (in my opinion).
A big lesson learned for me has been that there are multiple ways to do something - not everyone will have the same mental model as me. Going further, the more granular your mental model (I.e the more abstractions), the higher the chance that other teammates’ mental models will differ.
I still like abstractions for testability reasons - perhaps this is the right smell to check for when determining whether to split something up.
I wrote a tool that parses a single user’s Cloudwatch metric logs as a .har file. Har files are used in the network developer pane in browsers. Doing this allowed us to visualize a customer’s journey and discover areas in the code with high latency!
Slow reader here - I’ve picked up reading much more in recent years after always wanting to build a habit as well!
Some ideas that have helped build that habit:
- The Pragmatic Programmer (great book) recommends reading one technical book per quarter to invest in yourself. If you read one book per year, you’re still doing better than most . With that, I try to read a “professional” book every morning (I’ve gotten a ton of recommendations from https://leadership-library.dev). I’ve also found that when it comes to topics like leadership, I get a lot more depth through books than blog posts online.
- At night, I like clearing my mind before going to bed. Podcasts with a sleep timer used to do the trick, but became prohibitive after moving in with my partner. I’ve found books have the same effect - I’ll usually read something lighter (fiction or non fiction).
- Regarding audio books - I used to be pretty against audio books - the whole adage “Oh can you even call that reading?”. But I’ve come to learn, yes! I think you have to be pretty engaged to get the most out of them (I.e you can’t be browsing the internet while listening). Audio books on long runs have been a really great way to pass the time! What keeps me coming back is the idea that some reading is better than no reading at all!
- Use the library! Before last year I would buy Kindle books - super expensive and difficult to try new books. This made me force myself to read books even if I didn’t really like them - not great! Instead, check out Libby to check out books from your local library. You can register for a library card without leaving your home! https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby?
- Continuing on my previous point, if you’re not enjoying a book, just drop it and move on. It can take time to find the right book, but you will find one that you enjoy (take it from someone who has at times felt helpless in this area)! I’ve found a couple through - https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2020
All in all, books are great and you should read them! Just be sure to find the time(s) that work best for you (don’t feel pressure to replace TV with books), and find the books that interest you in the moment!
I wrote a script a while back that pairs clip art to class names (ex. MicrophoneRecorder -> pictures of a microphone and tape recorder). The goal was to add a visual component to naming your abstractions.
One question I’ve had about Protobufs is, what about function definitions? If Protobufs handle my objects, do I have to use a separate tool for my API?