Quotes About Iteration

To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can.

It made me dizzy to realise that this was but a fraction of all the men the world had bred. How could such variation endure, such endless iteration of minds and faces? Did the earth not go mad?

How could such variation endure, such endless iteration of minds and faces? Did the earth not go mad

It made me dizzy to realize that this was but a fraction of a fraction of all the men the world had bred. How could such variation endure, such endless iteration of minds and faces? Did the earth not go mad?

__next__ raises a built-in StopIteration exception at end-of-file

for calls iter, which calls __iter__

Think about it: because we copied the original version, if we ever have to change the way raises are given (and we probably will), we'll have to change the code in two places, not one. Although this is a small and artificial example, it's also representative of a universal issue — anytime you're tempted to program by copying code this way, you probably want to look for a better approach.

Interestingly, the iteration protocol is even more pervasive in Python today than the examples so far have demonstrated — essentially everything in Python's built-in toolset that scans an object from left to right is defined to use the iteration protocol on the subject object.

remember that generator functions simply return objects with methods that handle next operations run by for loops at each level, and don't produce any results until iterated; and

that's why we need recursion here: the number of nested loops is arbitrary, and depends on the length of the sequence permuted:

The name used as the assignment target in a for header line is usually a (possibly new) variable in the scope where the for statement is coded. There's not much unique about this name; it can even be changed inside the loop's body, but it will automatically be set to the next item in the sequence when control returns to the top of the loop again.

any function that contains a yield statement is turned into a generator function.

Repetition is the root of all software evil

In almost all cases, I'm opposed to setting aside time for refactoring. In my view refactoring is not an activity you set aside time to do. Refactoring is something you do all the time in little bursts.

Make a sketch, construct a model, or assemble a prototype. Then another. And another. With each attempt, you'll reveal new possibilities for innovation. Your mind will talk to your hands, and your hands will talk to your mind. This dialogue is called generative thinking, and it happens only when you're making something. It's the active ingredient of design.

Mannerism, especially when it takes the form of recurrent word or phrase, is by no means easy to represent; there is but a hair's breadth between the point at which the reader delightfully recognizes is as a revealing habit of speech, and the point at which its iteration begin to weary him.

Set-based development means that you communicate constraints, not solutions.

begin, and cease, and then again begin

Thus the creative process is less linear than recursive. How many iterations it goes through, how many loops are involved, how many insights are needed, depends on the depth and breadth of the issues dealt with.

A key tenet of agile estimating and planning is that we estimate size but derive duration.

Even with a well-intentioned and highly communicative team, it is possible that the results of an iteration could be found worthless when shown to the broader organization or external users at the conclusion of the iteration.

Each cycle—and there may be many cycles between initial examination and launch—isn't expected to produce a complete product, but add to the quality of understanding and to flesh out the feature set.

Along the way, I began to develop an understanding about not only the process for making a miniature golf course, but the general process for making anything: how to start with an initial idea, develop preliminary plans, create a first version, try it out, ask other people to try it out, revise plans based on what happens—and keep doing that, over and over. By working on my project, I was gaining experience with the Creative Learning Spiral.

Open the ovoid mother and find the ovoid girl; open the child and the next egg grins up its invitation to crack it. You can never tell a priori how many iterations await you; you hope they continue forever. My daughter, my matryoshka.