Minor breakthrough today: this has been one of our more stolid, not to say boring,
classes to date. Today we got them embroiled in a lively (well, relatively) debate
on the burning issue of whether it's better to review your code first or compile
it first. (Trust me, it's a hot-button issue among programmers.) The best part was
that we had people in the class on both sides of the issue, so it didn't have to
be just us as instructors trying to make a point. Also, the people who deal with
these issues every day, especially the leads who have a little better visibility,
can make these points better than I ever could.
By the way, the
correct answer is, "It depends. In theory, reviewing first (in a structured way)
should be more effective, but just try it this way for a while, then make your
decision based on data."
In other news, I was practicing racing starts this morning and broke two minutes
on my split -- 1:57 at a rate of 38! (That's fast, at least for me.)