write 100 lines of python code each day

I didn’t really measure, but the pure amount of time I spent inside my IDE for client and my own projects for the two weeks was promising. Counting the actual LoC might be interesting to keep me going, we’ll see.

I should have written 1400 LoC by now. I guess I wrote about 200, 150 of which where for trying out something, leaving 50 of productive code for my own projects. During the same time I wrote about 500 LoC for a customers project, and only because I already had missed the deadline.

Though it is only a technical aspect, the python code goal is at the very heart of a lot of things that go wrong. Other goals like running a marathon or losing weight are easy in comparison, because they are more or less mechanical. This one here emerges from my head, which I have the most problems to control.

LoC has always been a stupid measurement for productivity. But since I’m not thinking in function points it will have to do. I started programming in 1984 at 13 and have been living from it for more than 10 years now. So naturally a number of ideas how to handle (my) life better circle around software.

Unfortunately I lack the drive to move my own projects forward unless there is a customer getting nervous at the other end of the telephone line, so the big project of the last 10 years, a tool for language training, moves very slowly.

I had a very productive run in 2002/2003 while setting up a system for clinical research with 30,000 LoC in Perl, about 100 LoC each day. I’d like to get back to this level for my own projects which would be long done and prosperous if I had actually written 100LoC for the last 10 years.