Specification-first: how islet went from zero to a working system in one session
There's a strong temptation, when you know what you want to build, to just start building it. Open an editor, create a file, write the first function. You'll figure out the rest as you go. I’ve done that plenty of times. It works until it doesn’t. The problems tend to arrive around the third or fourth decision that depends on an earlier one you didn’t think through. By then you’re committed and the cost of changing direction is no longer zero. ...